James Harrison: known as 'The Man with the Golden Arm' have saved lives of more than two million babies. In the past 60 years, he has selflessly donated his blood almost every week that saved the incredibly innumerable number of lives.
Living a simple life in Australia's central coast, Harrison is more than just an average man - but what is in his blood makes him extraordinary and a hero.
James Harrison and the Anti-D
After becoming a donor, doctors discovered that his blood has rare antibodies that could answer one of Australia's deadliest problem. According to Jemma Falkenmire of the Australian Red Cross Blood Service, Australia has a literally thousand of babies dying every year which doctors didn't know the reason up until about 1967.
Those deaths were the result of Rhesus disease - a disease ranges from mild to severe, and typically occurs only in some second or subsequent pregnancies of Rh negative women where the fetus's father is Rh positive, leading to a Rh+ pregnancy. During birth, the mother may be exposed to the infant's blood, and this causes the development of antibodies, which may affect the health of subsequent Rh+ pregnancies. Its effects ranges from mild to moderate and the worse is death or brain damage. Read more about Rh disease here: Rhesus disease
Back in 1960s, with Harrison's cooperation, doctors were able to develop an antibody injection that could prevent rhesus-negative blood from developing RhD antibodies during a pregnancy - with the use of his blood antibodies..
A well-fulfilled dream of a hero.
According to him, back when he was a teen at the age of 14, he undergone a chest operation to remove one of his lungs. He said that according to his father, he received 13 liters of blood from unknown donors making doctors think that it was the cause of having such antibodies.After knowing what happened to him, he said that when he is old enough, he will become a donor just like his father who is also a donor.
More than that, he is honored as a national hero and won many awards. Together with the Anti-D, he was credited for saving millions of babies' lives with a record of donating more than 1000 times.
Read more about this story from our source: CNN
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