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 think they should allow him to donate blood only if the blood is still safe for the recievers. If blood after the age of 81 is different and not safe anymore, then I don't think they should continue to allow him to donate because it could be dangering the others.
It would be a hard decision to make. I would probably stick with the pregnancy and follow what my doctor told me to. I would do all that I could to make sure that my baby stayed healthy. It is sad to think that not everybody has access to the donations.m
I would be devastated if I were pregnant and rhesus negative knowing there wasn't any medication to save my baby. It would just be sad knowing that my negative rhesus blood is attacking the baby inside of me. Also, as far as the age limit on blood donation, I think they should let Harrison donate just because he is perfectly healthy. If he wasn't healthy it would be a different story, but he's willing and able to help many more women in his life so why are people keeping him from that?
Some people think that his old age makes him unhealthy and is why he shouldn't be able to keep going but I agree with you that since he is healthy despite his old age he shouldn't be kept from helping people.
I would be sad. Yes I think that they should let him donate.
That would be a problem. If I was someone that had a rare blood and needed some, I would be desprite to do what was needed to be done. I would not want one of my children to die from not getting any blood. This man that has donated so much deserves a thanks and hopefully someone else can do the same.
I'm sure everybody who's gotten the medication with his antibodies in it are extremely thankful for what he's done and it's cool that he's even recieved national recognition for his donations and is one of Australia's national heroes.
bye
If there was a cure, I suppose you have to try whatever you can, but if the baby is already dead, I think I would have to abort the baby. I don't know, if he's healthy enough, he can, but he's already done so much.
He has already done a lot and while he's for donating, it would sort of seem like they're using him just for his blood if they allow him to keep going despite the age limit and it might not be fair to others who don't have the special antibodies and are also not allowed to keep doing blood donations.
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