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NC Andrew Cussons, Barry Briggs, Andrew Bruce, Norman Simmons and Nick Sainsbury We are also demanding an inquiry into the Department of Health’s role in the scandal which has condemned many

more to a slow and painful death. Among the victims of the worst disaster in NHS history were 64 pupils who attended the same school and were killed by a treatment that was supposed to save

their lives. As the Sunday Express takes up the fight to make sure lessons are learned from the tragedy we can now tell the survivors’ heart-breaking story. The boys were all pupils during

the Seventies and Eighties at Treloar College in Alton, Hampshire, which for almost a century had been one of England’s leading centres for caring for disabled youngsters. The boys, who all

suffered with the blood disorder haemophilia, were sent there because it offered them the best chance of leading a normal life. But many were dead before they reached their 30th birthday,

killed by diseases including HIV and Hepatitis C which they got from blood products that were hailed as a miracle treatment for haemophilia, a disorder that stops blood from clotting and can

make a trivial injury fatal. Nick Sainsbury, 52, a former civil servant from Hull, was a boarder at Treloar from 1974 to 1980, one of 55 haemophiliacs there at the time. Few of his

contemporaries are still alive. Nick believes he was infected with HIV and Hepatitis C while receiving treatment at the college’s specialist NHS haemophilia centre which moved on to the

campus to treat children on site in the mid-Seventies just as new treatments, known as clotting factors, became available. The college was at the forefront of the development, which in many

ways was to revolutionise the boys’ lives, with just one injection able to stop potentially fatal bleeding. But demand for the blood products far out-stripped supply and most of it was

imported from America where, in contrast to European practice, companies paid donors for their blood, an incentive that attracted drug users, prostitutes and alcoholics. US companies were

warned of potential dangers but continued to use so-called “skid row” donors. HULL NEWS AND PICTURES Nick Sainsbury, now 52, was told he might only have two years to live Though British

doctors were becoming concerned that viruses were creeping into these products, patients, including those at Treloar, continued to receive blood products riddled with deadly diseases. In

total, 7,500 NHS patients were infected after receiving the dangerous blood products. As Nick now starkly puts it: “What happened was the effective genocide of a generation of

haemophiliacs.” However, it was not until after he had left school that the full horror of the situation would unfold. He only learnt of his own possible exposure to HIV when he saw a news

story about one of his school friends dying of Aids. He recalls a school trip where he and school friends Andrew Cussons, Barry Briggs, Andrew Bruce and Norman Simmons joined a family who

had two haemophiliac boys on their annual holiday in Canada on the shores of Lake Ontario. Nick is now the only one alive. Three were killed by viruses contracted through contaminated blood

products, while the fourth stopped taking the anti-viral medication to treat his HIV, a decision to end his own life that he took after his wife had committed suicide. Singer songwriter Ade

Goodyear, 44, who attended Treloar College from 1980 until 1989, also lost many of his friends from the school. “I have many happy memories of school but they are layered with a sadness that

still gives me goose bumps today,” said Ade, who still lives in the Alton area. He remembers vividly the day he was told about his own HIV status in 1985. ANDREW FOX Joe Peaty attended the

school in the 1970s > What happened was the effective genocide of a generation of > haemophiliacs >  > Nick Sainsbury “We were only 15,” he said. “It was a bright sunny morning

and we went into the office in the medical centre in groups of five. “It was a surreal but relaxed atmosphere. The staff wanted us to maintain our kinships and keep up the camaraderie via

the open-door policy we were used to by now. “The doctors cautiously informed us that ‘you may have heard that Factor VIII isn’t as clean as it should be’. “Believe it or not we all knew

what was coming and our hearts were in our boots. “While going slowly around the room we were told who had HIV by the words ‘you haven’t, you have, you have, you haven’t’ and so on. ‘How

long have we got?’ we asked as the doctors and nurses welled up. They replied, ‘As we know very little about HIV we honestly can’t say but we think at this time around two years but maybe

more’.” He added: “We were sick and the world changed in a click for all of us that day, in that room, and then soon the next group was going in. “I remember looking at the sun and thought,

how many more days will I be seeing the sunshine for? Another friend said, ‘I think we’re dead’. Today only two of us out of that group of five are still alive.” Joe Peaty, 49, who lives in

Coventry and was at the school from 1979 to 1984, was told of his HIV status while preparing to sit his A-levels. “I hadn’t been having regular treatment until I arrived at the school,” he

said. “But they persuaded me to try a new treatment and got mine and my parents’ consent for it. It meant I was given million of units of Factor VIII, sometimes up to 1,000 units a day. NC

HIV sufferer Richard Warwick MARK KEHOE Ade Goodyear was a pupil at Treloars school and was given HIV “They reassured us time and time again that it was safe. But it wasn’t and there will

always be a question mark in my head as to why these treatments were used when they had not been thoroughly tested and found to be safe.” Richard Warwick, 49, from Malton, North Yorkshire,

was at the school from 1976 and lost many friends. He was only told he had HIV in 1989, 12 years after infection. He said: “What is worse, I was told in front of my wife-to-be. We cried all

the way home from the hospital.” Like other HIV haemophiliacs, Richard was made to sign a legal waiver in 1991 in exchange for £20,000, on condition he never pursued legal action should any

other viruses be found. Years later he was diagnosed with Hepatitis C. He now has severe Stage Four liver cirrhosis and is on the transplant list. Like many of those affected by the scandal

he has been campaigning for over 25 years for a full and final settlement for victims. Last week the Government, which has promised £25million to help reform the system of support for those

affected, said it would not consult on how to spend the money until after the autumn spending review.