James Harrison, a 78-year-old Australian man, has donated blood every week for 60 years, and he refuses to watch the needle go in each time.
Harrison, now known as “The Man with the Golden Arm,” has continued to donate throughout the years because a very unique antibody in his blood can save the lives of babies who are affected by rhesus disease.
During some pregnancies, when a woman who has rhesus-negative blood her body produces antibodies that can destroy her babies’ cells. This can happen when the baby inherits rhesus-positive blood from the father.
Rhesus disease can cause anemia and organ enlargement in babies, among many other complications, and can even be fatal.
Because of Harrison’s donations, in the 1960s physicians developed an injection called Anti-D, which prevents women who have rhesus-negative blood from developing the destructive antibodies while pregnant. Every batch of Anti-D that has ever been made in Australia has come from Harrison’s blood, Jemma Falkenmire, of the Australian Red Cross Blood Service, told CNN.
“In 1951, I had a chest operation where they removed a lung — and I was 14,” Harrison shared with CNN. “When I came out of the operation, or a couple days after, my father was explaining what had happened. He said I had (received) 13 units (liters) of blood and my life had been saved by unknown people. He was a donor himself, so I said when I’m old enough, I’ll become a blood donor.”
Little did he know his contribution would have such a profound impact.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Watch the CNN coverage with Dr. Sanjay Gupta here.
