Australian James Harrison is known today not only in his own country. Here’s why.
As a teenager, he had to undergo serious surgery. He needed more than 10 liters of donated blood.
After a long recovery period, the young man made a promise to himself that he would donate his blood regularly and thus help people as soon as he turned 18.
James had no idea at the time what a valuable donor he was destined to become.When he turned 18, donating blood and plasma became a regular occurrence for James.
Sharing his memories, he noted that he lived in constant anticipation of this event for all 4 years (the period after the surgery and up to the moment of the first donation.
After the first procedure, the staff at the clinic where he donated blood wanted to talk to him. They explained to James that his blood was rich in a lot of special antibodies.
Their presence is extremely necessary for the favorable birth of a baby, whose Rh factor is not the same as that of the mother.
In a situation where a Rh-negative mother carries a Rh-positive baby, the parent’s antibodies will be much more active than the antibodies in the blood of the unborn child, resulting in “Rh conflict”, which may result in miscarriage.
Based on the identified antibodies in the blood of James, it became possible to create a vaccine that helps to cope with the resulting problem, avoiding Rh conflict.
Experts assume that the appearance of special antibodies in the blood of the “golden” donor is associated with numerous blood transfusions, which he had to undergo in his youth.In a word, for James Harrison, donation was not an entertainment, but a life’s work. The value of James’ blood was understood not only by doctors. The Australian government also appreciated such a donor and insured his life for 1,000,000 dollars.
Today Harrison is already in his ninth decade, and now he can no longer be a donor. Legislation prohibits it for those of that age. But he donated plasma at least once a month until last.
And May 2011 marked a milestone for him – this donation was the thousandth.
This event made it into the Guinness Book of Records. A rough estimate showed that James had helped two million babies to be born. And even his own daughter is among them.