Man with the Golden Blood

I am sure many people must be aware of this man But there aren’t many people who still know James Harrison.

He is known as the man with the golden blood.

A young James had an operation where he got a lung removed. This operation was successful with the help of 13 units of blood of unknown donors. So this young guy said that he would donate too when he is big enough to.

Once he started donating blood, doctors found something unusual. His blood was the answer to a deadly problem.

Rhesus disease -- a condition where a pregnant woman's blood actually starts attacking her unborn baby's blood cells. In the worst cases it can result in brain damage, or death, for the babies.Rhesus disease happens when a pregnant woman has rhesus-negative blood (RhD negative) and the baby in her womb has rhesus-positive blood (RhD positive), inherited from its father. If the mother has been sensitized to rhesus-positive blood, usually during a previous pregnancy with an rhesus-positive baby, she may produce antibodies that destroy the baby's "foreign" blood cells. 17% of Australians moms are said to have this disease.

Harrison was discovered to have an unusual antibody in his blood and in the 1960s he worked with doctors to use the antibodies to develop an injection called Anti-D. It prevents women with rhesus-negative blood from developing RhD antibodies during pregnancy.

Harrison's blood is precious. He and Anti-D are credited with saving the lives of more than 2 million babies, according to the Australian Red Cross blood service: That's 2 million lives saved by one man's blood.

Till date he has made more than 1000 blood plasma donations and is still saving lives!

Salute to him.

He holds the Guinness world record for the maximum blood plasma donation!

Maybe his blood has something special but every fit person can and should donate his or her blood too.