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James Harrison, an Australian railway clerk who helped save 2.4 million babies by donating the rare antibodies in his blood every two weeks for over 60 years, died Feb. 17 at a nursing home in Umina Beach, a suburb north of Sydney. He was 88.
His daughter, Tracey Mellowship, confirmed his death to The Washington Post on Monday. A cause of death was not disclosed.
James Christopher Harrison was born Dec. 27, 1936, in the town of Junee, New South Wales. His lifelong dedication to giving blood came after his own hospitalization: He underwent major lung surgery at age 14 and later described waking up in intensive care and discovering he had received extensive blood transfusions.
According to Australian Red Cross Lifeblood, which organizes blood donations and distributes plasma to hospitals, Harrison gave blood from 1954, when he became old enough to donate under Australian law, to 2018, when he was advised to stop because of his age.
In 1966, scientists discovered that blood plasmas containing Anti-D, an uncommon antibody, could be administered during pregnancy to help prevent hemolytic disease of the newborn (HDN), which can cause serious complications including stillbirth and neonatal death.
Soon afterward, medical officials discovered that Mr. Harrison carried unusually high concentrations of Anti-D.
"The antibody from his plasma was administered to 2.4 million babies," Jemma Falkenmire, a spokeswoman for Australian Red Cross Lifeblood, said in an interview Monday, estimating the number of babies whose mothers received the injection while pregnant. "There are so many people walking around with a little bit of James."
Scientists in Australia have used Mr. Harrison's plasma to manufacture over 3 million doses of the Anti-D immunoglobin injection since 1967, with every ampoule administered in the country containing his donated antibody, according to Lifeblood. Only a minuscule volume is required to prevent HDN in a pregnancy deemed to be at risk.
Every year, the Anti-D injection that contains Mr. Harrison's antibodies is administered in about 17 percent of pregnancies in Australia. His daughter, Mellowship, is among those who received it.
"He was relentless. He really wanted to help others," said Falkenmire, recalling how he hated needles and preferred to be distracted by conversation during a donation. "Having a donor with that amount of antibody was incredibly important for Australia."
His prolific donor history - 1,173 donations - also earned him the moniker "The Man with the Golden Arm."
HDN arises when a woman with an Rh-negative blood type carries a fetus that has inherited its father's Rh-positive blood, an incompatibility that causes the mother's blood to reject the fetus's red blood cells.
Scientists were never sure why Mr. Harrison's blood contained such high concentrations of Anti-D, but speculated that it was the result of the blood transfusions he received during his lung surgery. "He was flooded with the antibody," Falkenmire said.
"They asked me to be a guinea pig, and I've been donating ever since," Mr. Harrison told the Sydney Morning Herald in 2018, when he stopped donating on the advice of health officials concerned about the effects at his age. "I'd keep on going if they'd let me," Mr. Harrison said at the time.
According to the Australian government's Health and Medical Research Council, the discovery of the antibody has rendered clinical incidences of HDN in Australia "almost non-existent." According to a 2018 study by the peer-reviewed Medical Journal of Australia, HDN caused an estimated 250 stillbirths and neonatal deaths in Australia in 1967.
An estimated 16 percent of people in the United States have Rh-negative blood, giving them the ability to produce Anti-D antibodies in their plasma. But according to Australian Red Cross Lifeblood, that country has fewer than 200 Anti-D donors - with medical researchers now hoping to develop a synthetic version of the injection composed of lab-grown antibodies. The program is named "James in a Jar," after Mr. Harrison.
Australian Red Cross Lifeblood, along with Melbourne's Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, has successfully re-created and grown the antibody in the lab and hopes to one day be able to use it to treat HDN worldwide, potentially reducing dependency on donors, the organization said in a statement.
"Creating a new therapy has long been a ‘holy grail' - with a scarcity of donors committed to regular donation as well as being able to produce antibodies in sufficient quality and quantity," David Irving, director of research at Australian Red Cross Lifeblood, said in the statement.
Mr. Harrison's wife, Barbara Harrison, died in 2005. He is survived by his sister Margaret Thrift, his daughter, two grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
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