Meet the man with a golden blood(amazing story as he blood saves millions of people

 

James Harrison hates the sight of blood. And while he’s not unique to this feeling, the 78-year-old Australian has given blood more than 1,000 times – and that’s a lot of time spent staring at the ceiling.

“Never once have I watched the needle go in my arm,” Harrison told CNN. “And I can’t stand pain,” he adds.

For someone with a fear of blood, Harrison’s own plasma has had quite the influence. Known as “The Man with the Golden Arm,” Harrison has donated blood a few times a month for the past 60 years, saving millions of young lives across Australia.
After undergoing a chest operation in 1951, the then 14-year-old received 13 litres of blood from unknown donors and decided to become a donor himself.
What followed was miraculous: Harrison’s blood was thought to be the answer to a national issue, containing a rare antibody that would eventually save lives.
Up until 1967, thousands of babies were dying each year across Australia due to rhesus disease, a condition where the mother’s blood attacks the unborn baby’s blood cells. The disease takes hold if the mother has rhesus-negative blood (RhD negative) and the baby is rhesus-positive (RhD positive), and if the mother has already been exposed to RhD-positive blood during a previous pregnancy.
During the first pregnancy, the mother’s body reacts to the RhD-positive blood by creating antibodies that recognize the blood cells and destroy them. If a second child is RhD-positive, the mother’s body reacts quickly, producing antibodies that destroy the foreign blood immediately, causing jaundice, brain damage, and occasionally leading to death.
Harrison’s blood has been more than life-saving – it’s been revolutionary. In the 1960s, doctors worked with Harrison to create an injection called Anti-D, using the rare antibody to prevent women with RhD negative blood from developing those harmful antibodies during their pregnancy.
“Every bag of blood is precious, but James’ blood is particularly extraordinary,” says Jemma Falkenmire, of the Australian Red Cross Blood Service, adding that every batch of Anti-D created in Australia is derived from Harrison’s blood, though there are approximately 50 people in Australia known to have the antibodies.

And while doctors still aren’t sure why Harrison has this blood type, they do agree that it most likely is from the blood transfusions he received as a teen.

“I think James is irreplaceable for us,” Falkenmire told CNN. I don’t think anyone will be able to do what he’s done, but certainly we do need people to step into his shoes.“