At 14, James Harrison had major lung surgery and needed transfusions. Lying in that bed, he decided he would give blood the moment he was old enough.
He turned 18 in 1954 and started. He didn't stop until 2018, when Australian law forced him to retire at 81. One thousand one hundred and seventy-three donations. All but ten from the same arm.
His plasma carried a rare antibody called anti-D — possibly because of the very transfusions that saved him as a boy. Anti-D prevents a mother's blood from attacking her baby during pregnancy. Over three million doses were made from his donations, and he is credited with 2.4 million babies. One of them was his own daughter's.
He was afraid of needles for sixty years and never once watched one go in. He just kept turning up.
He gave away a Tuesday afternoon, every fortnight, for most of a lifetime.