James Harrison, responsible for saving 2.4 million babies through donations in blood plasma, dies in 88

Melbourne, Australia -Australian man responsible for saving 2.4 million babies through record donations in blood plasma over six decades, died, his family said on Tuesday. He was 88 years old.

James Harrison, a retired officer of the State Railway Department, died in a nursing home on the central coast of the country of the new South Wales, February 17, according to his granddaughter Jarrod Mellowship.

Harrison plasma contained rarely an antibody known as anti-D. It is used to produce injections that protect unborn babies from the hemolytic disease of the newborn, in which the immune system of pregnant women attacks the red blood cells of her fetus. The disease is the most common when a woman has a RH-negative blood group and the child is RH-POSITIVE.

Australia has only 200 donors against yes. They help 45,000 mothers and their babies a year.

Despite the aversion to the needles, Harrison gave 1,173 donations after he turned 18 in 1954, until he was forced to withdraw in 2018, at the age of 81.

“He did it for the right reasons. No matter how modest, he liked his attention. But he will never do that,” Mellowship said, adding that his grandfather was surprised that he recognized Guinness records in 2005 as a person who donated the highest blood plasma in the world.

The record was defeated by American Brett Cooper from Walker, Michigan.

Australian blood service pays tribute to James Harrison

Australian Red Cross Blood Service He said Harrison was known as “a man with a golden hand.” This national agency, which is responsible for collecting and distributing blood products, is also known as Lifeblood.

Her director Stephen Cornelissen said Harrison hoped that someone in Australia would one day win his donation record.

“James was an extraordinary, stoically kind and generous person who was dedicated to the experience of giving, and he captured the hearts of many people around the world,” Cornelissen said in a statement.

“Jacob is a belief that his donations are not more important than any other donor and that everyone can be as special as he does,” Cornelissen added.

Lifeblood said, “With great gratitude, we acknowledge James Harrison’s generous life … I thank James for the incredible contribution he gave to the millions of lives he saved.”

Mellowship said that his mother, Tracey Mellowship, Harrison’s daughter, needed treatment when he and his brother Scott were born.

Jarrod Mellowship said his own wife Rebecca also needed treatment when three of their four children were born.

How did James Harrison’s blood gain her unique feature

There are speculations that Harrison developed a high concentration of anti-Da as a result of his own blood transfusion during the main lung surgery when he was 14 years old.

“After surgery, his father, Rega, told Grandad that you were just really alive because people donated blood,” said Jarrod Mellowship. “The day he turned 18, he started donating.”

The application of anti-Da in the fight against the hemolytic disease of the newborn has not been detected by the 1960s.

Harrison, born in New South Wales, was survived by his sister Margaret Thrift, his daughter, two grandchildren and four great -grandchildren.