Meet the Man Who Has Saved 2 Million Babies [VIDEO]
A man donated blood in 1955, and doctors realized he had special antibodies that fight a disease that affects unborn babies. And he's been donating ever since.
Sunshine Coast Daily[/caption]78-year-old James Harrison, who lives in Australia, had to have a lung removed when he was 14, and needed 13 units of blood. So he decided that when he was old enough, he'd start giving blood. When he started donating in 1955, doctors realized that his blood had a rare antibody that could fight a disease called Rhesus. It's when a pregnant woman's blood attacks her baby's blood cells. Thousands of kids in Australia were dying from it every year, until doctors used James' blood to make a vaccine in 1960.
Over the past 60 years, he's given blood almost 1,100 times, which is a world record. And he's saved the lives of more than two million babies all over the world. Even one of his grandkids.
His blood is still being used to make it, so he keeps donating. And after 60 years, he still can't watch them stick him with the needle AND he hates the sight of blood.
They don't know why James has the antibodies naturally, it might have been the transfusion when he was 14. And there are other people who carry them, including 50 in Australia. But James was one of the first carriers in the world to be identified.