Beiruting News

Known as "The Man with the Golden Arm," nearly every week for the past 60 years he has donated blood plasma from his right arm. The reasons can be traced back to a serious medical procedure he underwent as a child.

"In 1951, I had a chest operation where they removed a lung -- and I was 14," recalls Harrison, who is now aged 78.

"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."

Soon after Harrison became a donor, doctors called him in. His blood, they said, could be the answer to a deadly problem.

Harrison was discovered to have an unusual antibody in his blood and in the 1960s he worked with doctors to use the antibodies to develop an injection called Anti-D. It prevents women with rhesus-negative blood from developing RhD antibodies during pregnancy.

"Every bag of blood is precious, but James' blood is particularly extraordinary," says Falkenmire. "His blood is actually used to make a life-saving medication, given to moms whose blood is at risk of attacking their unborn babies. Every batch of Anti-D that has ever been made in Australia has come from James' blood.

"And more than 17% of women in Australia are at risk, so James has helped save a lot of lives."