Mr Harrison, dubbed 'the man with the golden arm', is still donating every few weeks at the age of 74. He is thought to have saved 2.2million babies
Posted on 03/22/2010 6:21:24 AM PDT by NYer
An Australian man who has been donating his extremely rare kind of blood for 56 years has saved the lives of more than two million babies.
James Harrison, 74, has an antibody in his plasma that stops babies dying from Rhesus disease, a form of severe anaemia.
He has enabled countless mothers to give birth to healthy babies, including his own daughter, Tracey, who had a healthy son thanks to her father's blood.
Mr Harrison has been giving blood every few weeks since he was 18 years old and has now racked up a total of 984 donations.
When he started donating, his blood was deemed so special his life was insured for one million Australian dollars.
He was also nicknamed the 'man with the golden arm' or the 'man in two million'.
His blood has since led to the development of a vaccine called Anti-D.
He said: 'I've never thought about stopping. Never.' He made a pledge to be a donor aged 14 after undergoing major chest surgery in which he needed 13 litres of blood.
'I was in hospital for three months,' he said. 'The blood I received saved my life so I made a pledge to give blood when I was 18.'
Just after he started donating he was found to have the rare and life-saving antibody in his blood.
At the time, thousands of babies in Australia were dying each year of Rhesus disease. Other newborns suffered permanent brain damage because of the condition.
The disease creates an incompatibility between the mother's blood and her unborn baby's blood. It stems from one having Rh-positive blood and the other Rh-negative.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
God bless this selfless man! How many others might have taken advantage of this gift, for profit. Finally, a "good news" story.
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Wow. What a good man, bless his heart.
I SO needed this story today!
As my dad would say, he’s “got a front row seat in Heaven”.
What an amazing man.
I am in an extremely poisonous mood after the Socialist Health Care bill was rammed down our throats last night.
Thank you for posting this uplifting story. It made me smile, if only for a minute.
Thanks for the ping/for posting this. On this dreary, dismal day this story is a wonderful thing.
What a great story! My daughter and I had this problem. I had no idea how serious it was. I just got the shot and no worries. Thank you Mr. Harrison!!!
Very nice. I was born with this condition in Denver, CO and needed a complete transfusion at birth. One scary thing was it was in 1974 that was about the time aids really started.
Stupak wiped out 2 mill..so back to even.
Who will replace him? I wonder who out there has this rare anitbody.
A “good news” break and reminder of the purpose of life - to share our gifts with others.
“His blood has since led to the development of a vaccine called Anti-D.”
Thank God for men like this.
The next time my doc (if he hasn’t quit) takes blood I’m going to ask him to test for it.
There are others. The bigger question, however, is how many, if any, are willing to share their blood with their brothers and sisters.
Thank you, NYer. It is all too easy at times to forget what is really important.
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