In 1951, 14-year-old James Harrison from Australia woke up after major chest surgery. Doctors removed one of his lungs and hospitalized him for 3 months. During this difficult time, Harrison learned that he survived mainly because of the large amount of transfused blood he received. At that time, he promised to become a blood donor himself. Former Australian law required donors to be over 18, so James had to wait 4 years. And he waited and fulfilled his promise. The Australian Red Cross estimates that James has saved millions of lives through his regular blood donation for as many as 60 years.
Shortly after James became a donor, doctors told him he might be right his blood solved a deadly problem. “It's in Australia until 1967 thousands of babies died, and the doctors didn't know why," he said Jemma Falkenmire the Red Cross told CNN. "Women had many miscarriages and children were born with brain damage" Today we know that this is due to the dreaded RhD hemolytic disease of the fetus where the blood of the pregnant woman begins to attack the blood cells of the unborn child. This occurs when the mother is Rh negative and the fetus is Rh positive (inherited from the father).
The doctors found that James had rare antibodies in the blood, and in the 60s of the last century they cooperated so extensively and so developed an injection called Anti-D. This prevents the mother's Rh negative blood from producing antibodies during pregnancy.
Why James has such a rare blood type is unknown. They guess that's it transfusion related, which he received when he was 14. The Red Cross also says that it is in Australia less than 50 people, who have these rare antibodies. “Every bag of blood is priceless, and James' blood is something incredible. Every Anti-D injection ever made in Australia comes from James' blood. Here, more than 17 percent of women are exposed to this risk, which means that James saved a lot of lives," adds Jemma. 2.4 million, to be precise.
"The man with the golden hand" has done in his life 1,173 blood plasma donations – 1,163 from the right hand and 10 from the left hand. He exceeded the maximum possible age as a donor a week ago, when he also donated blood for the last time.
Gallery - James Harrison, "the man with the golden hand"
