James Harrison: How one promise, kept for 64 years, turned fear into lifesaving impact
In 1951, a 14-year-old Australian boy named James Harrison woke up in a hospital bed with 100 stitches across his chest.
Doctors had just removed one of his lungs. To survive, he needed 13 units of blood from complete strangers, people whose names he would never know.
His father, Reg, sat beside him and said something that shaped the rest of his life.
“You’re only alive because people donated blood.”
James made a promise. When he turned 18, he would donate blood. He would repay the gift that saved him.
There was one obstacle. He was afraid of needles.
In 1954, the day he became eligible, he walked into a donation centre anyway. He sat in the chair, fixed his eyes on the ceiling, and let the nurse insert the needle. He never watched. Not once. Not in the 64 years that followed.
After several donations, doctors discovered that his plasma contained a rare antibody, likely developed from the transfusions he received as a teenager. That antibody could prevent haemolytic disease of the newborn, commonly linked to Rhesus incompatibility.
Before this breakthrough, thousands of Australian babies died each year. When an Rh negative mother carried an Rh positive baby, her immune system could attack the baby’s red blood cells, leading to miscarriage, stillbirth, or severe brain injury.
James’s blood became part of the solution.
Doctors asked if he would switch to plasma donation. It required longer sessions, about 90 minutes instead of 20, and regular visits for decades.
He thought about his fear. Then he thought about the babies.
He agreed.
For 64 years, James Harrison kept his appointments. He donated while working as a railway clerk. He donated after retirement. He continued after his wife Barbara died in 2005, a period he described as his darkest days.
Every time, all 1,173 donations, he looked away from the needle. The fear remained, but so did his commitment.
In time, the medication developed from his plasma was used during his own daughter’s pregnancy. His grandson Scott was born safely because of the very treatment his grandfather had helped make possible.
In May 2018, at age 81, Australian regulations required him to stop donating. His final session was marked by mothers holding healthy babies, living evidence of what his donations had made possible.
Since 1967, more than three million doses of Anti D immunoglobulin containing antibodies from his plasma have been issued in Australia. His contributions are estimated to have helped protect about 2.4 million babies.
When people called him a hero, he resisted the label.
“I’m in a safe room, donating blood,” he said. “They give me a cup of coffee and something to nibble on. Then I go on my way. No problem, no hardship.”
James Harrison died in his sleep on February 17, 2025, at the age of 88.
We often look for heroes in grand gestures or dramatic stories. Sometimes a hero is someone who keeps a promise for decades, who feels fear and still chooses to show up.
Millions of people are alive because one man decided that his fear would not have the final word.
What act of courage might you choose, even if it unsettles you?
Meditation: And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. – Romans 6:13
Through the love of Christ, our Savior, all will be well!
Also read:
- Take Heed to Yourself: A Call to Inner Discipline and Peace
- Understanding God: God of Product Recall and Fresh Beginnings
- Men in the Bible: A Man with Little Foresight
- How to Find Peace and Fulfilment
- Life Is a Jigsaw Puzzle: Trusting God With One Piece at a Time
- From Knowing About God to Truly Knowing Him: A Testimony of Salvation
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