Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain Stuff, I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, and this this is another classic episode. Today we're returning to the story of a man whose blood donations saved over two million babies over the course of a few decades. And as of this recording, he's doing just fine. By the way, Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum here. When currently eighty one year old John Harrison was just fourteen years old, he received a blood transfusion
following a major chest surgery. He had a long removed and thirteen units or pints of other people's blood that's nearly two gallons, made their life saving way into his veins. That transfusion inspired Harrison's later generosity. He promised to begin donating once he turned eighteen, and did so weekly until May eleven, when, according to the Australian Red Cross, he gave his final donation. He's fine. That's just the maximum
age in Australia for giving blood. Harrison's prolific donation is notable enough that in two thousand three, Guinness World Records recognized his achievement for the most blood donated by a single person. His record was broken in but would say it's still nothing to sneeze at. And Harrison's blood is notable not only for quantity, but also for quality. He's credited with saving the lives of more than two million
Australian babies. Harrison, known in Australia as the Man with the Golden Arm, produces a rare and powerful antibody in his blood called r H d immunoglobin or anti D. It protects unborn babies from the potentially deadly condition r H incompatibility. When a pregnant woman with an r H negative blood type carries a baby with RH positive blood, the woman's body mistakenly treats the baby's red blood cells
like an outside threat. Her body produces antibodies to combat what it perceives as an invader, with potentially deadly effect. Miss carriage, still birth, fetal brain damage, and anemia are all possible outcomes. Australian doctors have theorized that the transfusion that Harrison received as a teen may have contributed to the unique composition of the blood his body now produces.
Harrison made his final contribution at the town Hall Donor Center in Sydney, Australia, surrounded by mothers and their children who had benefited from the treatment, as well as large silver balloons in the shape of the numerals one, one, seven three, one thousand, one d and seventy three being the number of times Harrison donated blood throughout his life. Harrison told a Sydney Morning Herald reporter attending the final donation, it's a sad day for me, the end of a
long run. Robin Barlow, the r H program coordinator who recruited James to be the program's first donor, told the newspaper every ampule of antide ever made in Australia has James in it. Since the very first mother received her dose at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in nine seven. It's
an enormous thing. He's saved millions of babies. Approximately seventeen percent of pregnant Australian women received doses of anti d. That number includes Harrison's own daughter, Tracy Mellowship, who was treated in nineteen two and gave birth to a healthy son named Scott in When Scott turned sixteen and eleven, he gave his first blood donation, sitting next to his grandfather, who was marking his thousand but there's a bit of
a twist. Harrison, who received the Medal of the Order of Australia in nineteen nine, has had a lifelong fear of needles. In his more than six decades of donating blood, He's never watched a nurse insert and needle in his arm, preferring to look away. Today's episode is based on the article the Man whose Blood Saved more than two million babies on how stuffworks dot Com, written by Christopher Hasiotus.
Brain Stuff's production of by Heart Radio in partnership with how Stuffworks dot Com and is produced by Tyler Kline. Four more pod tests from my heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. H