The “man with the golden arm” sounds like a super-hero who emerged from the sky to save us all in a moment of suffer. Well, that’s not really the case. This old man didn’t emerged from the sky, and his hand isn’t really golden. But he did saved 2.4 million babies by donating blood every week for 60 years.
Which means he is a hero, but not as recognizable as those we see in the movies. He doesn’t fly, and he doesn’t wear a suit. But he is a hero!
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81-year-old James Harrison from Australia is restoring faith in humanity all over the world. He had a major chest surgery when he was only 14-year-old. Young James was hospitalized for 3 months and he had one lung removed during the operation.
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It was a difficult operation indeed, but James managed to recover. But his journey to becoming the “man with the golden ram” started when he found out that the reason why he survived the operation is because he received a large quantity of transfused blood.
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This was the turning point in James’s life. This is when he pledged to himself to always donate blood to whom so ever required it. You have to be 18-years-old to be a blood donor in Australia, which means he had to wait 4 more years.
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And as soon as James became a donor, the doctors realized that James’s blood can solve a painful problem.
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“In Australia, up until about 1967, there were literally thousands of babies dying each year, doctors didn’t know why, and it was awful,” Jemma Falkenmire of the Australian Red Cross Blood Service told CNN. “Women were having numerous miscarriages and babies were being born with brain damage.”
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Doctors didn’t know how to deal with Rhesus disease (where the pregnant woman’s blood starts attacking her own unborn baby’s cells.) in 1967. The disease occurs when the baby has rhesus-positive (RhD positive) and the pregnant woman has rhesus-negative (RhD negative).
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In this case, the mother’s body may produce antibodies that could destroy the baby’s blood cells. James’s blood was exactly what the doctors need to deal with the disease. As it turns out, his blood contains a rare antibody to develop an injection called Anti-D.
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This injection is used to prevent mothers developing RhD antibodies during their pregnancy. But although thankful for James’s contribution, the doctors have no idea why he has such rare blood type.
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There are around 50 people in Australia with such a rare blood type. The blood transfusion James received at the age of 14 could be the reason why his blood contains the precious antibodies.
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“Every bag of blood is precious, but James’ blood is particularly extraordinary <…>. Every batch of Anti-D that has ever been made in Australia has come from James’ blood.” Falkenmire said.
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“And more than 17% of women in Australia are at risk, so James has helped save a lot of lives.” Or about 2.4 million, to be precise.
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The man who survived thanks to blood transfusion is responsible for saving millions of babies. He is indeed a hero and a much-needed example in this world.
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James has donated nearly 1173 plasmas in his life (1163 from his right hand and 10 from his left hand). “It becomes quite humbling when they say, ‘oh you’ve done this or you’ve done that or you’re a hero,’” Harrison told CNN. “It’s something I can do. It’s one of my talents, probably my only talent is that I can be a donor.
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“They asked me to be a guinea pig, and I’ve been donating ever since,” the hero told the Sydney Morning Herald. “I’d keep on going if they’d let me.”
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