They call him ‘ The Man With The Golden Arm’. James Harrison is just your average guy, he collects stamps, goes for long walks around his Australian home and just has a genuine love for life, but Harrison has something few of us can say they have.

For the past sixty years, Harrison has been donating blood once a week, hence the name ‘The Man With The Golden Arm’. It is estimated that Harrison has donated enough blood to save the likes of 2 million people, children mostly, but what an extraordinary gesture and feat.

The following is from the video’s description. 

“In 1951, I had a chest operation where they removed a lung — and I was 14,” recalls Harrison, who is now aged 78.

“When I came out of the operation, or a couple days after, my father was explaining what had happened. He said I had (received) 13 units (liters) of blood and my life had been saved by unknown people. He was a donor himself, so I said when I’m old enough, I’ll become a blood donor.”

A deadly problem
Soon after Harrison became a donor, doctors called him in. His blood, they said, could be the answer to a deadly problem.

“In Australia, up until about 1967, there were literally thousands of babies dying each year, doctors didn’t know why, and it was awful,” explains Jemma Falkenmire, of the Australian Red Cross Blood Service. “Women were having numerous miscarriages and babies were being born with brain damage.”

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