James Harrison, an Australian blood plasma donor, has died. He was 88. Over his lifetime, he helped save more than two million babies.

 How did Mr. Harrison help save so many babies? He had “a golden arm.” 

Not literally. His arm got that nickname because his blood contained a rare antibody. This antibody is called anti-D. (Antibodies are y-shaped proteins in blood. They find and stop bacteria and viruses.) 

Scientists use anti-D antibodies to make injections. These shots are for pregnant moms. They protect unborn babies from a sickness called “hemolytic disease of the newborn.” That sickness makes the mother’s immune system attack the baby’s red blood cells. Not every mom and baby is in danger of getting this disease. It most often happens to women and babies with specific blood types.

In all of Australia, only 200 people with anti-D blood donate. Their donated blood plasma helps 45,000 mothers and their babies each year. (Plasma is the liquid part of blood after it is separated from the red blood cells.)

“He did it for the right reasons,” says Jarrod Mellowship. He is Mr. Harrison’s grandson.

Mr. Harrison won a Guinness World Record in 2005. He had donated the most blood plasma in the world. 

Of course, Mr. Harrison helped many babies he would never meet. But he also helped his own family. His grandson, Jarrod, needed anti-D in the womb. So did Jarrod’s brother, Scott. Jarrod says his own wife, Rebecca, also needed the treatment when three of their four children were born.

How did Mr. Harrison get his golden arm? Some guess it has something to do with blood transfusions he got during lung surgery. He was 14. Doctors used donated blood to help him. 

After the surgery, Mr. Harrison’s dad talked to him. He told young James that he was alive because other people had donated blood. “The day he turned 18, he started donating,” says Mr. Mellowship.

Mr. Harrison made 1,173 donations over his life. And it wasn’t easy for him. Needles made him nervous!

For the life of every creature is its blood: Its blood is its life. — Leviticus 17:14