The Golden Arm

In an attempt to escape, they built two sets of wax wings, which would allow them to fly off the island towards freedom. At first, their journey was going smoothly, but Icarus got cocky. He rose higher and higher into the sky, flying so close to the sun that his wings melted. He fell into the ocean and drowned, a victim of his own hubris. The lesson is clear, overconfidence

can lead to disaster. Unfortunately, it seems that Alexander Bogdanov, sometimes called the Icarus of hematology, did not get the memo. Alexander was born in Russia in eighteen seventy three. He was prolific at well, almost everything. Actually, he was an ardent socialist who rose through Russia's political ranks. He was a science fiction writer who penned tales about utopian societies. He was a poet, a philosopher, and a teacher. As if all of that wasn't enough, he was also a physician.

During World War One, Alexander served as a doctor in the Russian Army. Much of his job involved giving blood transfusions to wounded soldiers. Now, it's important to point out that at this point in history, hematology or the science of blood, was fairly new. Scientists had just recently figured out about blood types. You've probably heard of these before, But to put a simple every human's blood falls into certain categories. We label these with letters AB and O

and either a positive or a negative sign. Knowing a person's blood type is integral to performing a safe and effective transfusion. Alexander got a lot of practice doing transfusions during World War One. When he returned home after the war, he continued studying hematology, and he came up with some ideas that were a bit well out there. You see, Alexander believe that blood transfusions might be the key to immortality, or at least they might be able to reverse aging.

This was a particular interest to Alexander because in the nineteen twenties he was around fifty years old. He was going through all the normal things that fifty year olds do. His hair was thinning, his vision was getting worse, and he didn't quite feel as spry and energetic as he did in decades past. He wanted to get back some of his youthful spirit, and so he figured why not do an experiment on himself. He managed to get eleven of his younger students to voluntarily donate blood to him.

Then he transfused these donations into his own body, essentially trying to replace his quote unquote older blood with newer blood. And just to be clear, nobody had ever really done this before. Alexander was taking a huge risk assuming that transfusing pints upon pints of blood wouldn't have any adverse effects, and at first it didn't. Alexander actually thought that his

weird experiment was working. He reported that his hair was coming back and thicker, his eyesight seemed to be improving, and he felt happier and more energetic than he had in years now. Clearly Alexander was not considering the placebo effect. These supposed changes weren't quantifiable, they were just self reported. Nevertheless, he was totally convinced, and so were many of his friends and students. They told him the blood transfusions made

him look ten years younger. So Alexander kept up with this vampiric routine, filling his veins with the blood of younger men. You might say that he was wearing wax wings and flying dangerously close to the sun. In April of nineteen twenty eight, Alexander's hubris became his downfall. He obtained a blood sample from a student and transfused it into his own body. Little did he know that student had malaria. Alexander had accidentally infected himself with one of

the most dangerous diseases in the world. The student who gave the blood sample survived, but Alexander did not. He passed away that same month, going down in history as the Icarus of hematology. It was a tragic ending for a truly impressive man, but at least he taught us all a lesson. Aging is inevitable, so you might as well embrace that bald spot every superhero has an origin story right. Spider Man got his powers when he was

bitten by a radioactive arachnid. The Hulk's transformation was triggered by gamma rays, and the Flash gained super speed after being struck by lightning. When it comes to strange beginnings, though, James Harrison is different, that's because he's not a storybook character. He's a real man who's credited with saving over two point four million lives, and he got his superpower when he was just fourteen years old. At the time, it was nineteen fifty one and James had just fallen ill

with a severe respiratory condition. He was so sick that his parents rushed him to the hospital, where he underwent major chest surgery. He had to have one of his lungs completely removed to make it through the operation, James received multiple blood transfusions, totally about two gallons. After three months of recovery, James was okay, but he never forgot his near death experience. He knew that without those blood transfusions he wouldn't have survived, and he wanted to pay

it forward. As soon as he turned eighteen, he approached the Australian Red Cross Blood Service and asked to make a donation. This was a big deal for James. Even after the surgery that he'd been through, he was scared of needles. He looked the other direction as the nurse stuck the sharp tip into his vein. He kept his eyes averted until a full pint of his blood had dripped into the donation bag and the nurse replaced the needle with a band aid. Shortly after, the Australian Red

Cross Blood Service tested James's blood. This was standard procedure to make sure that the donation was safe to be given to a patient. But when they looked at James's blood, they realized something incredible. It was full of rare antibodies known as reesus d immune globulin or anti D. Okay, this is where it gets a little complicated, so just stick with me here. You know how, when we talk about blood types, we say that someone is positive or negative.

What we're really saying is that someone's blood either does or does not contain a protein called reesus. Our blood type is determined before we're even born. Now, when a person with Reese's negative blood is pregnant, the fetus might have the same blood type. In that case, everything is fine. However, sometimes the fetus can develop reesu's positive blood. This is

called reesis incompatibility. When it happens, the pregnant person's body can have an immune reaction that creates the antibodies known as anti D. These targets and attack the fetus's blood cells, which can lead to birth effects or even miscarriage. For most of human history, doctors didn't have any way to treat reesus incompatibility. Tens of thousands of babies died from the disorder every year, and then in the early nineteen sixties, researchers learned that anti D can be used to create

a vaccine. It's kind of like how the flu shot works. Scientists can take the antibody, alter it slightly and then inject it into the pregnant person's body, and then this stops the blood cells from attacking their babies. It's a great solution. The problem is the only way to get anti D is through blood donors and it's incredibly rare,

and that's where James Harrison comes in. James is one of an estimated fifty people in Australia whose blood contains anti D, and he has it in remarkable levels, like his body is just overflowing with the stuff. It's believed that during his lung surgery, James received a transfusion of blood that was incompatible with his own, leading his body to start producing anti d in record amounts. It's like a superhero origin story. A medical mistake gave a man

life saving powers. Beginning at eighteen years old, James donated blood or plasma once a week. He sat down and turned his eyes away from the needle one one hundred and seventy three times. He became known as the Man with a Golden Arm. James retired from giving blood in twenty eighteen, at eighty one years old. Doctors estimate that over the course of his sixty three year career, he saved the lives of at least two point four million children. And if that isn't heroic, I don't know what is.

I hope you've enjoyed today's Guided to you were of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with How Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show and you can learn all about it over at the Worldoflore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.