Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff,
Speaker 1: Lauren Vogel bomb here. When currently eighty one year old
Speaker 1: John Harrison was just fourteen years old, he received a
Speaker 1: blood transfusion following a major chest surgery. He had a
Speaker 1: lung removed and thirteen units or pints of other people's
Speaker 1: blood that's nearly two gallons, made their life saving way
Speaker 1: into his veins. That transfusion inspired Harrison's later generosity. He
Speaker 1: promised to begin donating once he turned eighteen, and did
Speaker 1: so weakly until May eleven, eighteen, when, according to the
Speaker 1: Australian Red Cross, he gave his final donation. He's fine,
Speaker 1: that's just the maximum age in Australia for giving blood.
Speaker 1: Harrison's prolific donation is notable enough that in two thousand three,
Speaker 1: Guinness World Records recognized his achievement for the most blood
Speaker 1: donated by a single person. His record was broken in
Speaker 1: but would say it's still nothing to sneeze at, and
Speaker 1: Harrison's blood is notable not only for quantity, but also
Speaker 1: for quality. He's credited with saving the lives of more
Speaker 1: than two million Australian babies. Harrison, known in Australia as
Speaker 1: The man with the golden arm produces a rare and
Speaker 1: powerful antibody in his blood called r H d immunoglobin
Speaker 1: or anti D. It protects unborn babies from the potentially
Speaker 1: deadly condition r H incompatibility. When a pregnant woman with
Speaker 1: an r H negative blood type carries a baby with
Speaker 1: RH positive blood, the woman's body mistakenly treats the baby's
Speaker 1: red blood cells like an outside threat. Her body produces
Speaker 1: antibodies to combat what it perceives as an invader, with
Speaker 1: potentially deadly effect. Miscarriage, still birth, fetal brain damage, and
Speaker 1: anemia are all possible outcomes. Australian doctors have theorized that
Speaker 1: the transfusion that Harrison received as a team may have
Speaker 1: contributed to the unique composition of the blood his body
Speaker 1: now produces. Harrison made his final contribution at the town
Speaker 1: Hall Donor Center in Sydney, Australia, surrounded by mothers and
Speaker 1: their children who had benefited from the treatment, as well
Speaker 1: as large silver balloons in the shape of the numerals one,
Speaker 1: one seven, three, one thousand, one hundred and seventy three
Speaker 1: being the number of times Harrison donated blood throughout his life.
Speaker 1: Harrison told a Sydney Morning Herald reporter attending the final donation.
Speaker 1: It's a sad day for me, the end of a
Speaker 1: long run. Robin Barlow, the r H program coordinator who
Speaker 1: recruited James to be the program's first donor, told the
Speaker 1: newspaper every ampule of anti D ever made in Australia
Speaker 1: has James in it. Since the very first mother received
Speaker 1: her dose at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in nineteen sixty seven.
Speaker 1: It's an enormous thing. He's saved millions of babies. Approximately
Speaker 1: seventeen percent of pregnant Australian women received doses of anti D.
Speaker 1: That number includes Harrison's own daughter, Tracy Mellowship, who was
Speaker 1: treated in nineteen two and gave birth to a healthy
Speaker 1: son named Scott in When Scott turned sixteen and eleven,
Speaker 1: he gave his first blood donation, sitting next to his
Speaker 1: grandfather who was marking his thousand. But there's a bit
Speaker 1: of a twist. Harrison, who received the Metal of the
Speaker 1: Order of Australia in nineteen ninety nine, has had a
Speaker 1: lifelong fear of needles. In his more than six decades
Speaker 1: of donating blood, He's never watched a nurse insert and
Speaker 1: needle in his arm, preferring to look away. Today's episode
Speaker 1: was written by Christopher Hasiotis and produced by Tyler Clang.
Speaker 1: For more on this and lots of other heartwarming topics,
Speaker 1: literally because of the bloody visit our home planet, how
Speaker 1: stuff works dot com