Talk:James Harrison (blood donor)

"Rare Antibody"
I think we should find out exactly what the antibody is. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Larryisgood (talk • contribs) 18:27, 5 May 2010 (UTC)


 * I'm a little confused about this myself. I'm guessing this is involved with the history of Rho(D) immune globulin.  That all 2m were saved directly by the one guy's donations may be incorrect, he may simply have been the first donor for anti-D donation programs, which are typically done by intentionally transfusing Rh positive blood to an Rh negative individual (normally to be avoided) so that they'll start producing the antibody.  For one guy to have been involved with the treatment of 2m HDFN cases seems unlikely, because it's not that common a disorder and it seems likely that there have only been 2m cases treated since it was discovered in the 40's.  I don't have better sources on this, but it doesn't add up, especially since I know for a fact that there have been many donors involved in Rh IG programs.  SDY (talk) 23:01, 20 March 2011 (UTC)

Honours (Australian Spelling!)
I added the Honors section. I noticed in the comments published on the Internet about Mr Harrison's appearance on the Australian program 'Sunday Night' in March 2010, people were writing that he should get an Order of Australia medal, and the Australian of the Year award. I don't know the years when he got the medal and nomination. I shall add them when I find out.Eligius (talk) 03:21, 23 April 2010 (UTC)

I've added an update; he was recently mominated for another Australian of the Year award. I also updated the Biography section, as we now know the date when Mr Harrison made his one thousandth donation of blood plasma. Eligius (talk) 01:33, 1 June 2011 (UTC)

As a side note, this article should absolutely use Australian spelling. As this is an article about an Australian topic :) Caitlin.swartz (talk) 03:06, 9 April 2019 (UTC)

13 liters of blood?
I'm not exactly an expert on the field but how is it possible to give him 13 liters of blood? Doesn't an average human body only contain something like 5 liters of blood? Furthermore source #3, which is cited in regards to 13 liters, doesn't seem to point to anything that's actually relevant to the article... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.225.243.116 (talk) 18:36, 11 January 2013 (UTC)
 * Complicated operations seem to be the cause, I have heard of it sometimes that such quantities of blood are required. I have one source from the renowned german newspaper "derSpiegel": http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-13692525.html (in german, you might wanna use google translate) which states that up to 50 liters of transfused blood can flow through the body for instance during a liver transplantation.--Methossant (talk) 20:18, 11 January 2013 (UTC)
 * Also, for explaining the 5 liters of blood in the body: During the operation blood that enters the body from transfusion can leave it through wounds during an operation. In other words, the total number of blood in the body will not exceed more than the regular amount, but you cannot effectively capture the blood lost during surgery, thus new one is introduced.--Methossant (talk) 20:20, 11 January 2013 (UTC)
 * Regarding the #3: http://www.ntv.co.jp/gyoten/index1.html Agreed. This seems a regular index site, not an article, also without knowing japanese, there is no text or video. I will investigate..--Methossant (talk) 20:38, 11 January 2013 (UTC)
 * I threw it out due to the above.--Methossant (talk) 20:38, 11 January 2013 (UTC)

I found article that suggest it was 13 units of blood not 13 liters. Blood needed to transplant - Anon (11.09.2018) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 195.136.76.5 (talk) 09:19, 11 September 2018 (UTC)

I think it was almost certainly 13 units, rather than 13 liters. It's an honest mistake with regard to unit confusion within in the (medical) layperson world.

13 units is still an very large amount of blood for transfusion. Given Harrison's age at the time, 13 pints was likely more than his circulating blood volume. This is likely what Methossant was describing.

There are several other sources which state 13 pints. I also have not checked the listed source to make sure the Wikipedia article didn't make a small, but significant, mistake.

I'll do a little more research and correct it, if needed. Caitlin.swartz (talk) 02:09, 9 April 2019 (UTC)

World record for donations
There seems to be a contradiction in the source on whether he holds the world record for most blood donations:
 * http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/1000/most-blood-donated-apheresis (currently down) lists someone from 2004 with 1130
 * http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMe4WSzmFnQ&t=1m25s (2011) states that he holds the Guiness record with his 1000 donations.--Methossant (talk) 15:30, 12 January 2013 (UTC)
 * I'm quoting the Guiness site content in case it goes down again:
 * "Richard Burke (USA) donated his 1,411th unit of blood on his 1,193rd blood donation visit made on 4 June 2004. This is equivalent of 634.95 litres (139.6 gal/167.73 US gal). He has been donating blood since 14 January 1975.
 * Apheresis - A procedure in which blood is collected, part of the blood such as platelets or white blood cells is taken out, and the rest of the blood is returned to the donor. Also called pheresis. the components which are separated and withdrawn include: Plasma - plasmapheresis Platelets - plateletpheresis Leukocytes - leukapheresis"
 * Note that this implies a donation every 8 days or so, which I think is not possible or the general procedure due to medical reasons for normal blood donations, but ok for plasma donations, which is mentioned here and I think thats whats also done by James Harrison. With the contradicting news report it is still unknown now if this is the same "record" and who is the holder.--Methossant (talk) 14:13, 13 January 2013 (UTC)
 * Removed the record statement, as I find it refuted by the Guiness online website.--Methossant (talk) 14:20, 13 January 2013 (UTC)
 * The video mentions a "Guiness record", but not "world record", maybe it is the record of "Australian with the most blood donations", instead of the world? It could however also refer to something completely different, like "saving the most lives" or similar. Methossant (talk) 00:06, 24 January 2013 (UTC)

Age during life-saving-operation
The current article states he was 13, but the cited source from Huffington post states:
 * "When Australian man James Harrison was just 14 years old, he received a life-saving blood transfusion during an invasive chest surgery."

Also the other source Daily mail indicates that:
 * "He made a pledge to be a donor aged 14 after undergoing major chest surgery in which he needed 13 litres of blood."

Note, given that he was 3 months in the hospital, he might have celebrated his birthday there. --Methossant (talk) 14:23, 13 January 2013 (UTC)

1000 donations?
In most places, you can only donate 4 times a year. Please can someone elaborate on this and correct this page to "platelet" or "plasma" donor if this is what he does? To donate 1000 times on 4 donations per year, it would take 250 years. The Austrian Red Cross service says you can only give WHOLE blood every 12 weeks. This page has ambiguity, what type of donor is he? --94.72.201.119 (talk) 14:07, 3 February 2013 (UTC)
 * Hi! I reworked the article, also regarding this issue, which seems to come up regularly, thus I included the clarification in the article itself. The facts stem from the TEN news report video, as sourced. To mention it here: he seems to be a plasma donor --- most of the times. Maybe the 1000 donations include both. It seems likely he first started as blood donor, then switched to plasma on doctors request, maybe mixed them both.
 * Thanks for reviewing the article, I'd also like to invite to make such clarifications yourself, it is sometimes less work to simply change it after checking the sources than stating it in the discussion part :-)
 * In any case, best regards from a fellow Austrian. --Methossant (talk) 16:56, 4 February 2013 (UTC)
 * In any case, best regards from a fellow Austrian. --Methossant (talk) 16:56, 4 February 2013 (UTC)

Note—in the USA one can give whole blood once every 8 weeks, to a total of 6 times a year. 2604:2000:F64D:FC00:1C3B:F00B:23C5:336F (talk) 11:16, 27 September 2018 (UTC)

More information
This page contains a lot of interesting info, that would be a plus in the article (after being fact double-checked). If someone finds time.. --Methossant (talk) 17:04, 4 February 2013 (UTC)

2 million saved
Does anyone know where the figure of two million children saved that Daily Mail etc. give actually comes from? I noticed that the Australian Red Cross gives a figure of 10,000 --- obviously still incredible, but nonetheless not nearly as high. Schneelocke (talk) 18:24, 21 June 2013 (UTC) This (what follows:) is un-referenced information (very difficult to find a detailed reference) but as a fellow anti-D donor I can confirm the the "10,000 saved" figure is possibly a bit of an embellishment (perhaps used for marketing purposes to have an extraordinary number that creates headlines and attracts attention). The figure would be more accurately described as 10,000 treated, as the default procedure in Australia is to treat all Rh- mothers with the Rh(D) Immune globulin regardless of if they need it (e.g. some mothers may not even be carrying an Rh+ child, or alternately they may only plan on having a single child, both scenarios meaning the the Rh(D) immune globulin is unnecessary (and to the best scientific knowledge also harmlessly administered)). So therefore it is very difficult to determine an exact "X saved" figure due to the incomplete follow up in medical records. Having said that, someone may have done the calculation and the 10,000 may ring true- I simply exhibit scepticism with most numbers provided when the Red Cross' overriding intent is to gather more volunteer donors (and promises of being able to "save" heaps of people sits well with this intent). I haven't updated the article as there are no published sites which explain this in detail. --Danbolator (talk) 02:36, 9 December 2013 (UTC)


 * Producer of the RhoGAM vaccine says that every donation can be used to produce only up to 30 doses www.rhogam.com/become-a-rhogam-brand-donor "Each plasma donation for the production of RhoGAM® Brand may save up to 30 babies' lives. " `a5b (talk) 13:16, 11 June 2015 (UTC)

Why was his last weekly donation, due to age, in May, when his birthday is in December?
Why was his last weekly donation, due to age, in May, when his birthday is in December? That doesn't add up. 2604:2000:F64D:FC00:1C3B:F00B:23C5:336F (talk) 11:18, 27 September 2018 (UTC)

Initial volume conundrum
I know there's already a talk page discussing the 13 litres statement, but I've chosen to start a new talk page because I'm wondering the best approach to including this information in the page. I am a medical professional in trauma medicine and 13 liters seems improbable to me. 13 units is an impressive volume, but it's not improbable for the surgery and time period described. But, given the conflicting information found in sources, it seems problematic to include the initial volume without some sort of explanation. Perhaps a line or two, explaining that it's unclear whether it was 13 unit or 13 litres, would suffice?

Here's a summary of what I have discovered while researching this:

Several sources claim the initial volume was 13 liters. However, these sources -including the currently referenced Daily Mail article- are less rigorously fact checked than other sources. Many of these sources are known clickbait pages which regurgitate and expand news articles/social media posts (I'm sure you all know exactly what I'm describing here).

A few higher quality, with regard to fact checking/editing, state that the initial transfusion was 13 units. While many, arguably more reliable, sources avoid listing concrete information about the initial volume. For example, the Australian Red Cross features an education page on Harrison which simply states, "When James was just 14 years old, he underwent major chest surgery and depended on the blood of strangers to save his life."

It seems that NPR and CNN (I'm American, so my Google searches prioritize American sources) both interviewed Harrison and included information about 13 units. While the Washington Post summarized the CNN article.

The CNN article used a direct quote from Harrison, " ' He said I had (received) 13 units (liters) of blood and my life had been saved by unknown people' " Which suggests that the CNN author included "received" and "liters" for clarity.

The Washington Post article used the same quote but omitted the clarification information found in parentheses, “ 'He said that I had 13 units of blood and my life had been saved by unknown people,' Harrison told CNN’s Sanjay Gupta decades later."

The NPR article did not use a direct quote: "After receiving 13 units — almost 2 gallons — of donated blood,". The clarification of two gallons suggests that "units" refers to standard blood units.

I initially felt that this would be a simple edit, based on a single error. If this topic doesn't get much feedback, I'll go ahead and just do an edit. Thank you for reading this very long question! Caitlin.swartz (talk) 03:04, 9 April 2019 (UTC)

Links to described articles: Australia Red Cross- https://www.donateblood.com.au/learn/anti-d/james-harrison

CNN- https://edition-m.cnn.com/2015/06/09/health/james-harrison-golden-arm-blood-rhesus/index.html?r=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fnews%2Fto-your-health%2Fwp%2F2018%2F05%2F12%2Ffor-six-decades-the-man-with-the-golden-arm-donated-blood-and-saved-2-4-million-babies%2F%3Fnoredirect%3Don%26utm_term%3D.e5787cb232cf

Washington Post- https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2018/05/12/for-six-decades-the-man-with-the-golden-arm-donated-blood-and-saved-2-4-million-babies/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.f4fcdb2d956a

NPR- https://www.npr.org/2015/06/14/414397424/man-with-the-golden-arm-donates-blood-thats-saved-2-million-babies Caitlin.swartz (talk) 03:17, 9 April 2019 (UTC)

The book by, is a semi-biography of James Harrison, and it uses the term 13 units of blood. Danbolator (talk) 21:58, 2 November 2020 (UTC)

Doubts about saving 2 million lives.
TaqPCR has been discussing this matter on my Talk page. I'm copying the discussion here to help others see the reasoning behind that editor's recent change to the article..... -- Just trust me on this the math makes zero sense and people had already discussed on the talk page a literal decade ago that millions of lives saved does not make sense mathematically and that an article from the Australian red cross claimed 10,000 saved which is at least in the realm of possibility https://web.archive.org/web/20150614002241/http://www.donateblood.com.au/all-about-blood/inspiring-stories/james-harrison-the-man-with-the-golden-arm Please revert my edit back. TaqPCR (talk) 07:56, 6 May 2024 (UTC)
 * TaqPCR - As I wrote in my Edit summary, the claim is backed by a reliable source. I also said you need to take your concerns to the article's Talk page, not here. HiLo48 (talk) 08:09, 6 May 2024 (UTC)
 * And as I said it was already mentioned on the talk page a literal decade ago Talk:James Harrison (blood donor) with a counter citation from the Australian red cross, the people actually taking and using the blood. That's why I called it a persistent myth. TaqPCR (talk) 08:35, 6 May 2024 (UTC)
 * I decided that I would just make the reversion myself because this has already been discussed in the talk pages. TaqPCR (talk) 09:25, 6 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Fine, but I wish you would stop seeing me as the enemy and/or arbiter here. The article's Talk page was the place to discuss this, not here, nor in Edit summaries. Yours are essays, not summaries. And do try to be a little less confrontational over this. HiLo48 (talk) 10:07, 6 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Understood, frankly this is the first time I've ever had to defend an edit so I'm new to this. TaqPCR (talk) 05:12, 7 May 2024 (UTC)

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