James Harrison is a man who saved more than two million children. James Harrison, whose blood helped save more than two million children (9 photos)

Not often seen, one of them is James Harrison. This is an ordinary pensioner living in Australia. However, people all over the world talk about him as a man with a golden hand. James Harrison is called this because he is an honorary donor. He donated blood from right hand already more than 1000 times. During all this time, James Harrison saved a huge number of people from death.

Biography

James Harrison was born on December 27, 1936 in Sydney, Australia. Upon reaching adulthood, James became a blood donor and donated blood every two weeks for 60 years.

His family always supported and was proud of him, because James Harrison became a real hero of Australia and the whole world. Harrison is now 81 years old and no longer donates blood, but his selfless act has become an example for many followers.

The decision to become a donor

The decision to become a donor did not come to James Harrison by chance. When he was still a teenager at the age of 14, he was given a very complex operation because of which he lost a large number of blood. After this, Harrison received a transfusion of 13 liters of donor blood. He spent 3 months in the hospital, and he was very touched by the fact that absolutely strangers who donated their blood free of charge and voluntarily helped save his life. After such a rescue, the 14-year-old boy decided for himself that he would definitely become a donor. Harrison kept his promise. From the age of 18 until he was 76, James donated blood regularly.

Unique blood

"The Man with the Golden Arm" Harrison is known to everyone for having unique blood properties. When he first came to the clinic as a donor, doctors found out that his blood had very rare, unique properties. The fact is that Harrison’s blood plasma contains antibodies that can prevent Rh conflict during pregnancy.

If a woman with an Rh-negative gene gives birth to a fetus with an Rh-positive gene, this can cause an Rh conflict. This can lead to consequences such as: anemia, jaundice in the baby and even birth dead child. The antibodies contained in Harrison's blood can prevent this Rh conflict. The “man with the golden hand” James himself, having learned about this, began to donate blood as many times as possible. A special antibiotic is made from his blood, which is given to women with Rh conflict. Harrison's daughter also took an antibiotic after the birth of her first child. She is very proud of her father and grateful to him for the health of her baby. Until now, doctors have not identified why Harrison’s plasma has such properties; perhaps the composition of the blood was affected by the operation performed at the age of 13.

Life insurance

After it was discovered that James Harrison's blood contained plasma with unique properties, his life was insured for $1 million. Since doctors at that time had not found a vaccine for this blood disease, thousands of children and infants died and could not be saved.

James Harrison's blood gave the opportunity to live and be healthy a huge number of people. James's wife Barbara died at the age of 56, but Harrison did not abandon his life's work, he continued to give people a chance to be healthy and happy.

World record

James Harrison is an unusual donor in every sense. In addition to the fact that his blood has a unique composition, he was also included in the Guinness Book of Records. Throughout his life, James Harrison donated blood more than 1,000 times, the highest record in the entire world. It was achieved by our hero in 2011 at the age of 75.

This man donated blood for 60 years, which made it possible to save the lives of millions of people. He visited the blood station 2-3 times a week, as often as possible. In addition to being included in the Guinness Book of Records, Harrison was awarded the Order of Australia.

Golden hand

Usually, when they say that a person has golden hands, they mean how masterful he is in his field, and that he always does everything well. In addition, there is an American film "The Man with the Golden Arm". However, in the case of James Harrison, the meaning is somewhat different. He received this nickname due to the fact that he donated blood almost all his life, and it contains plasma with unique properties. All this allows us to speak of James Harrison as “the man with the golden hand.”

Saving people

Thanks to James Harrison and his unique blood, more than 2 million mothers and children were saved, including his own wife and daughter. Scientists have now identified about 50 other people in Australia who have the same antibodies as James Harrison. This allows him to retire peacefully and leave saving lives to other people with golden hands. James Harrison is a national hero in Australia, as well as around the world. His selfless example encourages a large number of young boys and girls who have reached adulthood to do a good deed - to donate blood not for their own benefit, but for the benefit of other people. James himself believes that if every person who donates blood brings at least one friend, it will help save the lives of millions of people around the world.

James Harrison can be called not only a donor with a golden hand, but also a man with a big heart. IN Everyday life none of the people would even think that this is a person who is known throughout the world. Harrison leads a very ordinary life and has everything of his own. free time spends with his family. People with golden hands, like James Harrison, do not shout about themselves on every corner, they simply give what they have without demanding anything in return.

Australian James Harrison is called the man with golden blood: he is known throughout the world for saving more than two million children.

The blood of this elderly person is truly worth its weight in gold, since it contains special antibodies that help cope with the problem of conflict between different Rh factors in mother and child.

When James was hospitalized at age 14 and needed surgery for chest, he received a total of about 13 liters of blood transfusion and almost 100 stitches. It was thanks to donor blood that the guy managed to survive.

After being in the hospital for 3 months, he decided to return the favor: he decided to donate blood as soon as he was allowed after recovery, in order to save someone’s life in the same way that complete strangers saved his life. And after 18 years old, James began to donate his blood and plasma regularly.


“After the operation, I literally lived in anticipation of when I could go and donate blood. I did not know how many people then donated their blood to help me survive. I have never met them, I don’t know what their names are,” – says James Harrison.

Soon he was invited to the hospital to talk. It turned out that James' blood contained unusually strong and stable antibodies to the Rhesus factor D antigen. These antibodies are extremely important for the survival of children who have different Rh factors from their mother. If the mother has a negative Rh factor, and the child has a positive one, and the antibodies in the mother are more active than in the child, then it (the blood) begins to literally attack the child who is still in the womb. This can lead to both development hemolytic jaundice newborn and fetal loss.


The antibodies discovered in James' blood made it possible to create a serum that, after being introduced into the mother's blood, helps prevent the development of antibodies in the fetus' blood, thus eliminating many problems.


According to doctors, antibodies in James' blood could have appeared just when he himself received a blood transfusion after surgery in adolescence. Be that as it may, James Harrison is the first donor of plasma, on the basis of which the Rho (D) immunoglobulin vaccine was created. His blood helped save lives, so the Australian government decided to insure his own life for a million dollars.


“I wanted to return the favor,” says the 80-year-old Australian. “I was ready for this, and I have been a blood donor for more than 60 years.” The man donated blood on average every 3 weeks. In May 2011, he donated his plasma for the 1000th time, thereby setting a world record and getting into the Guinness Book of Records.


The serum created from James' blood helped save more than two million lives, including the life of his own daughter. His grandson, Scott, is also a donor: having the example of his grandfather before his eyes, the guy promised to donate blood from the age of 16, and sticks to his word. According to James, he is only glad that his act is an inspiration for others to do good for complete strangers.


On December 27, the elderly Australian will turn 81 years old and, according to the rules in force in Australia, from this age he will no longer be able to be a donor. Of course, doctors prepared for this in advance: if until 2015 all anti-Rhesus drugs in the country were made from James Harrison’s plasma, now alternative sources have been found.


“I sometimes hear: “Oh, you’re a hero!” says James Harrison. “Well, what kind of hero am I? I just sit down on a comfortable couch in a clean room and donate my blood. They treat me to a cup of delicious coffee and even give me something chew. That's all. Then I go about my business. There's nothing complicated about it."


(based on materials from the site kulturologia.ru)

James Harrison was born in 1935. At the age of 13, he underwent major breast surgery and urgently needed about 13 liters of donated blood. After the operation he was in the hospital in within three months. Realizing that donor blood saved his life, he promised to start donating blood as soon as he turned 18 years old.
James Harrison has an unusually rare type of blood; the antibodies contained in his blood save babies from hemolytic disease newborns, which often leads to death of children. Harrison has donated his blood every two to three weeks since he was 18 years old. Now the number of transfusions is approaching 1,000. It was James’s blood that became the basis for the creation of a vaccine called Anti-D.
At 56 years old, he has donated blood and blood components nearly 1,000 times since his first donation. This number is also a world record. After the first blood donations, it was discovered that his blood contained antibodies that could help save newborn children with anemia.
James Harrison does not intend to stop even in his old age. When it was established that his blood had unique composition, the donor's life was insured for one million Australian dollars. At the time, thousands of children were dying from similar blood diseases in Australia, and tens of thousands of newborns were suffering permanent brain damage. This was due to the incompatibility of the mother’s blood and the blood of her unborn child when their Rh factor differed. And this in turn often led to miscarriages. James Harrison continued to donate blood even after the death of his wife Barbara, with whom he lived for 56 years in a happy marriage. When he initially started donating blood, his life was insured for $1 million. His blood helped save about 2,000,000 children and their young mothers with Rhesus conflict.

The cheerful old man in the photo is James Harrison. I think this is the first time you've heard his name. And all because he is not an actor, not a singer, or even a star of the now popular YouTube.

James generally does not like unnecessary attention and leads a modest lifestyle, like the most a common person. Because he is - the most ordinary person.

So why did I suddenly decide to write about him? Because James Harrison saved at least 4,000,000 lives.

And not somehow indirectly, but personally. James is a donor, and he saved all this crazy number of people with his blood.

It all started when James was 13 years old. He went to the hospital, it came down to surgery, and after the surgery something went wrong and James needed a blood transfusion. Moreover, more than one transfusion; in total, 13 liters of blood were poured into him. It was as if someone in heaven thought it was funny to assign a liter for each year of his life.

But everything ended well. James Harrison recovered and solemnly vowed to himself to become a donor and in turn save everyone he could as soon as he turned 18 years old.

Someone might forget about their childish and slightly naive oath. As you know, nobility often fades with age. But not in the case of James, the day after his 18th birthday, he was already tested at the nearest donor point.

After a series of these preliminary tests, doctors accidentally discovered very special antibodies in his blood. Thanks to them, it was possible to try to stop the Rh conflict between a pregnant mother and her unborn child.

It was 1953 then, and Rh conflict was a very, very serious problem.. Because of him, children were born sick or even dead, and mothers had a hard time.

And then a guy with unique antibodies appears! His blood can be used and studied to create a medicine based on it.

When the seriousness of the situation was explained to James, the only question he asked was literally: “ How often can I donate blood?»

James Harrison is now 79 years old and continues to donate blood every three weeks. And his age and health are an excellent illustration of the benefits of blood donation.

In just 61 years of donation, he has donated more 410 liters of blood, and saved 2,000,000 women and the same number, if not more, of children. Among these 2,000,000 is his own wife, who also had a Rhesus conflict with their daughter.

James Harrison was included in the Guinness Book of Records, awarded the Order of Australia and the Australian government insured his hand for $1,000,000, for which James received the nickname “The Man with the Golden Arm.”

But what seems significant and sad to me is that if you type “James Harrison” in Google, the first link in the search results leads to a page with an American football player - the namesake of a unique donor.

Another sad fact is that in 2011, James was nominated for “Person of the Year” in Australia, but did not win. The award was received by Simon McKeon, a businessman and philanthropist, his achievements can be found. And on Nobel Prize Myra James Harrison wasn't even nominated.

Although our hero, in his own words, does not need all these awards. With or without them, he still goes and donates blood, according to a schedule that he has firmly observed since he was 18 years old.

At the end of my article, I would like to remind you of our childhood dreams . Who among us has not wanted to become an astronaut, knight, pirate or any other noble hero?

We grew up, and these dreams seem ridiculous and unrealistic to us. But that's not true.

James Harrison, by his example, made us understand that each of us can become a superhero and, no worse than Bruce Willis or Superman, save three Ufas or two Novosibirsks.

Although it is not necessary to achieve records, you can simply go and donate blood at the nearest point, and thereby continue the relay of goodness and save someone’s life.