James Harrison, blood donor whose rare plasma saved millions of babies, dead at 88

James Harrison is pictured donating blood in 2018. Subel Bhandari/picture-alliance/dpa/AP via CNN Newsource

(CNN) — James Harrison, a prolific Australian blood donor famed for having saved the lives of more than two million babies, has died at age 88.

Harrison, whose plasma contained a “rare and precious antibody” known as Anti-D, donated blood more than 1,100 times, according to Australian Red Cross Lifeblood, which confirmed his death in a statement published Saturday.

Harrison, who was known as the “Man with the Golden Arm,” died in his sleep at a nursing home north of Sydney on February 17, according to the statement.

Harrison’s altruistic mission was driven by having received multiple blood transfusions following lung surgery at the age of 14.

He started donating plasma at 18 and did so every two weeks until he was 81, the upper age limit for blood donation in Australia.

Lifeblood Chief Executive Officer Stephen Cornelissen hailed Harrison’s dedication.

“James was a remarkable, stoically kind, and generous person who was committed to a lifetime of giving and he captured the hearts of many people around the world,” Cornelissen said in the statement.

“James extended his arm to help others and babies he would never know a remarkable 1173 times and expected nothing in return.”

Harrison’s daughter, Tracey Mellowship, said her father “was a humanitarian at heart.”

“As an Anti-D recipient myself, he has left behind a family that may not have existed without his precious donations,” she said in the statement.

“He was also very proud to have saved so many lives, without any cost or pain. It made him happy to hear about the many families like ours, who existed because of his kindness.”

Anti-D is used to make a medication administered to pregnant mothers whose blood would attack their unborn babies’ blood cells, known as rhesus disease.

The condition develops when a pregnant woman has rhesus-negative blood (RhD negative) and the baby in her womb has rhesus-positive blood (RhD positive), inherited from its father.

If the mother has been sensitized to rhesus-positive blood, usually during a previous pregnancy with an rhesus-positive baby, she may produce antibodies that destroy the baby’s “foreign” blood cells.

In the worst cases, babies can be brain damaged or die.

Anti-D, produced with Harrison’s antibodies, prevents women with rhesus-negative blood from developing RhD antibodies during pregnancy.

The discovery of Harrison’s antibodies was an absolute game-changer, Australian officials said.

“In Australia, up until about 1967, there were literally thousands of babies dying each year, doctors didn’t know why, and it was awful. Women were having numerous miscarriages and babies were being born with brain damage,” Jemma Falkenmire, of the Australian Red Cross Blood Service, told CNN in 2015.

“Australia was one of the first countries to discover a blood donor with this antibody, so it was quite revolutionary at the time.”

Considered a national hero, Harrison won numerous awards for his generosity, including the Medal of the Order of Australia, one of the country’s highest honours.

By Jack Guy, CNN