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James Harrison, Who Has Helped Save Lives of More Than 2.4 Million Australian Babies, Retires (cnn.com)
Most people, when they retire, get a gold watch. James Harrison deserves so much more than that. From a report: Harrison, known as the "Man With the Golden Arm," has donated blood nearly every week for 60 years. After all those donations, the 81-year-old Australian man "retired" Friday. The occasion marked the end of a monumental chapter. According to the Australian Red Cross Blood Service, he has helped saved the lives of more than 2.4 million Australian babies. Harrison's blood has unique, disease-fighting antibodies that have been used to develop an injection called Anti-D, which helps fight against rhesus disease. This disease is a condition where a pregnant woman's blood actually starts attacking her unborn baby's blood cells. In the worst cases, it can result in brain damage, or death, for the babies.
But we cannot rely on a lucky individual realizing their luck and sharing so readily.
Why do so many Australians get rhesus? Even over 60 years that is a lot for something so serious.
Is there another way to fight this disease?
Hopefullly special blood isn't the only solution.
That is some legacy.
Hardly. Maybe reduced the risk for those babies, but most of them would've survived.
Yes, Democrats have a well-known negative stance about Rh-positive babies. Including A+, B+, AB+, and of course O+(?)
Oooh-kay. For those of you not familiar with basic newborn hematology, if a mom has Rh-negative blood (relatively rare compared at 15% to Rh-positive blood) and the baby has Rh-positive blood, and during pregnancy the mom's blood gets exposed to babies (can happen in car accidents and other placental problems resulting in fetal-maternal hemorrhage - the fetus's blood ends up in mom's circulation) the mom will start to make antibodies against the babies Rh antigens (more specifically, Rh-D antigens - there's more than one - Rhesus is a whole group; the D antigen is the troublesome one). This is one of the reasons couples contemplating marriage used to get blood tests in the United States, before the introduction of the medicine folks like James Harrison made possible.
In the United States, anti-D is typically referred to by its brand name, RhoGAM. It has antibodies to Rh-D - just a small amount, though. You inject this into a mom, her immune system detects them, and then if it sees actual anti-D from the fetus her immune system doesn't freak out and attack the fetal blood cells. Now and then we run into patients who do not like vaccines, which RhoGAM more or less is. The first baby is fine. The second baby to be exposed will often die (NSFW: pictures). In babies who don't die from hemolytic disease of the newborn (where their blood cells are destroyed, by maternal antibodies, among other problems) they can suffer brain damage. Treatment involves exchange transfusion and, in less severe cases, phototherapy, where we shine 460 nm light on them for a few days—hopefully not knocking too many DNA off the strand in the process.
Alternatively, you can take your chances with red raspberry and nettle tea, according to this person who claims to uphold evidence-based wellness, though she doesn't actually cite any evidence.
RhoGAM is made from pooled human plasma, like the gentleman cited in the article. He just happened to have a substantial amount of the antibodies, likely the result of blood transfusion exposure.
I think not.
TFA says he donated a bit over 1100 times over 60 years.
For the calendar-challenged among us, there are 3128 weeks in 60 years. And 1100 is NOT almost 3128....
Note that this should not be read to denigrate the phenomenal amount of blood this guy donated over the years. Just the idiots who put "nearly every week" into TFA....
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
You don't have the slightest idea what you are talking about.
Children of Rhesus negative mothers and Rhesus positive fathers will be Rhesus positive and at risk of their mother developing antibodies to their blood (as as second child after the mother has been sensitised by the first child, or as the result of the mother being exposed to the child's blood). High risk of still birth or major problems for the child.
If this is prevented, they aren't affected. They go on to be Rhesus positive. Like the majority of the population. In as much as Rhesus negative is as low as 10% in some populations, by increasing the number of surviving Rhesus positive children you are _reducing_ the risk in the general population over time.
claims to uphold evidence-based wellness, though she doesn't actually cite any evidence.
Evidence is for suckers that believe the system's here to help them. I know I'm right, why? Because I say so. If I was wrong I wouldn't be saying this.
Don't believe those smarty-pants "scientists" with all of their "evidence" and "trials" -- they just want to experiment on you and get you to buy their product to help fund the system. So order from me now -- only $19.99 with free shipping!
If the universe is someone's simulation -- does that mean the stars are just stuck pixels?
My wife required several Anti-D injections throughout her pregnancy, so thanks mate!
Starring Frank Sinatra & Kim Novak
A strung-out junkie deals with a demoralizing drug addiction while his crippled wife and card sharks pull him down.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0...
Children of Rhesus negative mothers and Rhesus positive fathers will be Rhesus positive and at risk of their mother developing antibodies to their blood (as as second child after the mother has been sensitised by the first child, or as the result of the mother being exposed to the child's blood). High risk of still birth or major problems for the child.
The gene for Rh- is recessive. Citation. I ended up having to explain this to my Mom--whose genotype here I actually do know, without any need to test it, because I know hers and my maternal grandfather's blood types.
Before Anti-D injections were available, it was generally fatal and the only way a later child would survive is if the father's genotype was Rh+/Rh-. This was the case with my maternal grandfather; his Rh type was known at birth..and I know the genotypes for all of his siblings. (If you're wondering: Rh+/Rh-, all but the first died of hemolytic disease of the newborn. The firstborn, a boy, opted to slide down a railing and land on spikes...)
Democrats want babies to die. Especially black babies.
What's sad is that I'm not being facetious or misrepresenting their position.
They just want babies like YOU to die, preferably in a fire of some sort. They think morons like you are bad for human survival overall, and they're right.
I stand corrected. Thank you
Don't worry they still have to survive a Darwinian economic system that's soon going to force them to compete against robots.
This is not just any other blood donor. This law makes no sense if he is saving lives and wants to give. The decision makers need to explain how they plan to justify this to the parents of the dead or brain damaged children.
I'm sure there are countries that would provide free room and board at a 5 star hotel just to get his blood.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Great, so all these people he saved are all susceptible to this disease.
These people do not carry any disease. This is about the problems of incompatible blood types as between mating humans. In the US between 15-20 of people have Rh negative blood, how sure are you that you are not one of "these people?"
If survival of the fittest was allowed to happen ...
Just sayin..
In the US between 15-20 per cent of people have Rh negative blood,
Survival of the fittest can also mean being able to develop a brain, a culture, a society and sciences where things like genetic differences have no larger impact.
Just wait for when we as a species are able to cheat natural death. If all goes well, that point in time isn't to far off.
Until that happens, think of this as australians society - which happens to have functional healthcare - winning out to the US which doesn't have this.
Darwin at work indeed.
You're welcome.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
Yes, apparently he had transfusion/s during surgery at 14, where a lung was removed.
They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
He's not the man with the "Golden Arm," but the man with the Golden Heart. The DNA of such a person should be saved, archived for study now or in the future. Actually, there should be a voluntary world DNA bank of extraordinary people for study.
E Proelio Veritas.
Yet how many millions did the Red Cross make, harvesting him like a farm animal?
People like to cite survival of the fittest until they're not the fittest . Then it's all "oh, but wait, my case is special!".
He had to retire, he was feeling a little drained.