Man with 'Golden Arm' Whose Blood Saved Millions
In the James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun, that golden gun is owned — and used — by the movie's bad guy.
But an Australian man known as "The Man with the Golden Arm" has been saving lives, not ending them.
That man is James Harrison, whose unusual blood has helped save the lives of more than 2.4 million babies.
Harrison hasn't donated blood since 2018, when he was 81. But the legacy of his donations is long-lasting.
His story began when he was still a teenager. Harrison had chest surgery aged 14, and he needed a lot of donated blood to save his life.
He said at the time that he wanted to give something back, and when he was old enough, he began donating blood.
And his blood is very rare. A few years after he started donating, it was found that he had an antibody in his plasma that could be used to make a lifesaving medicine called "Anti-D."
The medicine is given to pregnant mothers with rhesus negative blood type, but whose babies have rhesus positive blood.
Without it, babies can die from something called rhesus disease. Antibodies in the mother's blood attack the baby's blood cells because they suspect it to be "foreign."
Before the medicine was discovered in the 1960s, thousands of babies died or were born with brain damage each year in Australia because of rhesus disease.
Harrison donated blood and plasma nearly every week for more than 60 years. In fact, he only stopped because he had reached the age limit for blood donation in Australia.
According to the Australian Red Cross, he donated more than 1,100 times, mostly from his right arm.
He said in 2018: "I hope it's a record that somebody breaks."
Harrison's own daughter was even given the medicine. He described being a blood donor as "probably my only talent."
It's a very useful talent to have!
