James Harrison had chest surgery when he was just 14 and he was able to live due to other's blood donations so he promised to become a blood donor. It's been 60 years going that he's been donating every week and he even has rare blood, as only 50 people have it in Australia, that contain antibodies to make Anti-D injections. His blood was used to make a medication for pregnant women in Australia that were rhesus negative, which basically stopped their bad antibodies from attacking their unborn babies. In Australia he's considered a national hero and has recieved numerous awards for his blood contribution that has helped save over 2.4 million babies because of the life saving medicine his blood was used for. Although, he recently turned 81 years old, which is the maximum age for when you can donate in his country, and people hope there's another person out there with the rare anitbodies that's willing to help.
Questions:
1. What would you do and how would you feel if you were pregnant and rhesus negative but there wasn't any medication to help save your baby?
2. There's currently nobody else donating blood with the antibodies and 17% of women in Australia are rhesus negative. Do you think they should still allow Harrison to donate since he's healthy and willing to help?
My answers-
I would stick it out and hope for the best and be very sad that my blood was hurting my baby. I feel sorry for anybody who doesn't have access to the medicine and I think Harrison should have the option to keep donating if he chooses too and if the doctors determine he's still healthy enough to do it because when people should really stop donating due to health conditions varies by the person.
Replies
I wouldn't know why they wouldn't let a man help if he's willing to and why not let him if his blood could possibly save lives. If it were up to me I would let him help.
I think that they should allow Harrison to donate blood if he’s healthy and willing because then there is essentially nothing wrong with his blood, so he can donate it to help others in need. If he’s not allow to keep donating, I hope that someone with the same blood can come along and help these women.
If my blood was hurting and potentially killing my unborn child without any medication to stop it, I would be extremely sadden and confused as to why this had happened to me. I would also hope for a person, like this man, to help me get better.
I would simply pray to God that there is someone out there like James Harision to help save my baby's lifes. I would hope that someone would donate blood to help. If he is completely healthy with donating and is willing to donate then yes I think he should keep it up as long as he wants.
I would hope that someone would come put and donate blood to help.
2) It all depends, I understand he wants to help, but what if he isn't actually healthy and they think he is. It could cause more problems.
I would be extremely helpless and upset about the situation because there isn't really anything that I would be able to do about it. I would guess they probably won't allow him to continue to donate because the country most likely won't make an acceptino for just one person, but if he could that would be a huge benefit for the women with rhesus negative.
Since there is no one else to donate blood with these antibodies, I think Harrison should be allowed to donate blood as often as is healthy and acceptable by scientific and his own standards. I also think the other fourty-nine people need to step up and donate.
I totally agree with you in that I think the others with the same blood type should try, if medically healthy though, to donate blood for the cause. Many women need the medication for Rhesus negative and this man shouldn’t be the only one trying to help them.
I am close with someone who is Rhesus Negative. She found out recently after she lost a baby because of it. My heart has been non-stop aching since she lost her, but It helps me to know that there are medicines and people to help with this.
I guess if there wasn't any way to save my baby with this disease I would keep looking until the very last second because I would never forgive myself if I didn't try everything. Yes I would hope that if he was healthy that he should keep donating blood because his rare blood will help so many people and thats great.
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