Man with 'golden arm' whose rare blood saved more than two million babies donates for final time

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An Australian man who has given blood a record-breaking 1,173 times, helping to save more than two million babies, has made his final donation.

James Harrison, 81, carries a precious antibody that is used to make a medication which combats rhesus disease – a condition which makes the blood of pregnant women attack their unborn children.

He became known as the “Man with the Golden Arm” for his unprecedented volume of donations, which have also earned him a Guinness World Record and a Medal of Order in Australia.

“I’ve saved a lot of lives and got a lot of new kids into the world, so, that makes me feel good,” said Mr Harrison, who has now reached the maximum age at which he can give blood. “I increased the population by so many million I think.”

He told broadcaster 9 News he would have continued to make donations if doctors had let him.

Mr Harrison, from Umina Beach, on the central coast of New South Wales, first gave blood in in 1957. Six years earlier, when he was 14, he needed a lung to be removed and required someone else’s blood to save his life during the operation.

In the 61 years since his first donation, he has visited a Red Cross blood bank every fortnight.

Among those in attendance for his last donation at the weekend were Michelle Dibbs, her husband Edwin, and young daughter Eloise, whose life was saved by Mr Harrison’s blood.

Eloise has a negative blood type and her mother has a positive blood type, meaning Ms Dibbs needed two injections of the immunoglobin Anti-D before her daughter was born.

“I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you to James, he’s a wonderful person,” Ms Dibbs said.

Anti-D is made up of rare plasmas from donors such as Mr Harrison, who is one of fewer than 50 people in Australia known to carry the antibodies.

“In Australia, up until about 1967, there were literally thousands of babies dying each year, doctors didn’t know why, and it was awful,” Jemma Falkenmire, of the Australian Red Cross Blood Service, told CNN in 2015. “Women were having numerous miscarriages and babies were being born with brain damage. Australia was one of the first countries to discover a blood donor with this antibody, so it was quite revolutionary at the time.”

Doctors are unsure why Mr Harrison has this rare blood type, but suspect it may have been caused by the transfusions he received after his lung operation.

“Every bag of blood is precious, but James’ blood is particularly extraordinary,” said Ms Falkenmire. “Every batch of the life-saving Anti-D that has ever been made in Australia has come from James’ blood. And more than 17 per cent of women in Australia are at risk so James has helped save a lot of lives.”