Adrian Sudbury was a young journalist who successfully campaigned for the introduction of tuition on blood and bone marrow donation in British schools before he died of leukaemia at the age of 27.

The programme, aimed at dispelling myths surrounding the process of donating bone marrow and encouraging young people to become donors, is to begin in all British secondary schools for 14-15-year-old pupils from next month. A similar programme will offer talks and teaching aids to sixth-form teachers in schools and colleges across the country.

It is hoped that this will provide a steady stream of new donors in Britain, where there are about 7,000 patients waiting for a transplant.

The programme was announced after Sudbury met Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, in May, presenting him with a petition signed by 11,000 people calling on schools and colleges to teach students about the value of donation.

Sudbury grew up in Pinxton outside Sheffield and studied physiology at Liverpool University. He then studied journalism at Norton College in Sheffield before joining the Express and Chronicle Series in Holmfirth in 2003 as a junior reporter.

Sudbury moved to the Huddersfield Daily Examiner three years later and in November 2006 he was promoted to digital journalist in charge of the paper’s website.

In the winter of 2006 he was diagnosed with a rare form of leukaemia. He received a bone-marrow transplant the following summer, a process which he filmed. He also kept an award-winning online diary which attracted tens of thousands of readers.

His blog was recognised earlier this year when he was named multimedia journalist of the year at the Press Gazette Regional Press Awards at which he received a standing ovation.

Having been given the all clear in September 2007, Sudbury hoped to continue the blog to record his recovery, and his struggle back to health.

Instead, in May this year he was found to have suffered a relapse.

Told that he had a few months, at most, to live, he sought, with the Anthony Nolan Trust, to bring teaching of the much-misunderstood process of bone-marrow donation into British schools. His personal situation lent an urgency to the cause: within five days he was invited to meet the Prime Minister in Downing Street to discuss how his programme might be implemented.

Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary, and Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, signed the petition, along with Gary Lineker, the television presenter and former England footballer.

Speaking outside Downing Street last month Sudbury said he hoped that the fruits of his campaign would prove to be his “lasting legacy”.

Paying tribute to Sudbury Gordon Brown said: “Adrian Sudbury was a true hero whose selflessness and courage made him an inspiration to all who knew him and to many who didn’t.

“I spoke to Adrian last Wednesday and his campaigning spirit and his optimism remained undimmed.”

Sudbury is survived by his parents and his sister.

Adrian Sudbury, campaigning journalist, was born on July 15, 1981. He died on August 20, 2008, aged 27