James Harrison: Man With The Golden Arm

James Christopher Harrison is an 82 year old man from Australia. During his childhood he went through a traumatic event which made him turn into the greatest person he is today. James had to undergo a chest surgery at the age of 14 which resulted in need for 13 liters of blood approximately for his survival. 3 months of struggle at the hospital made him realize the importance of the huge donations of blood he received.

Saving lives through blood donation

For owing it back to the life-changing moment, he pledged to donate his blood from the legal age of 18 as required. As soon as he attained 18, James started to donate his blood. Few years later it was found out that his blood contained a strong rare combination of antibodies to fight against the Rhesus disease.

Though the exact reason for his blood composition was not found out by doctors, they stated it could be due to his blood transmission he received when he was 14. Out of the whole population in Australia, it was found out in a blood survey that only 50 people have this composition of blood.

When he knew about his rare blood combination, James Harrison decided to donate his blood plasma to create the Anti-D drug. Anti-D drug is used to help mothers whose blood is dangerous to their babies in the womb. In biological terms, if a mother has rhesus positive blood and the baby consists of rhesus negative blood from the father, then it was considered critical for the baby’s birth.

Thus by understanding his blood plasma’s importance he started to donate it every 2 weeks which led him to save around 2.4 million Australian babies. In his total lifetime of 82 years, James has donated his blood plasma around 1,100 times over 60 years. Another notable fact was his blood plasma saved his own daughter Tracey and his grandson.

On May 11^th 2018, James made his final donation as according to the Australian law, after the age of 81 they cannot donate blood. James became the pioneer of Australia’s Anti-D program.

I hope it’s a record that somebody breaks, because it will mean they are dedicated to the cause- James on the final day of donating blood plasma

Recognitions

James Harrison is the only man on the planet to have donated blood plasma over 1100 times approximately, thus making him a recipient of Guinness World Record. He has got the nickname the Man With The Golden Arm. Since 1967 he has been saving lives. He also received the Medal of The Order of Australia on June 7^th 1999.

Billions of humans do help other peers on a daily basis in one way or the other. Few of those life-saving moments are recorded and become acknowledged. While other charity heroes’ stay unsung.Either our deeds are recognized or left unnoticed; people out there need each other throughout our lives. Be the small reason for someone’s survival !