Bloody well right

Ever hear of James Harrison? You should have. We all should have.

He’s a hero. No, scratch that — he’s a superhero.

He is, by most accounts, responsible for saving the lives of at least two million babies. Imagine that for a single second: Knowing that you alone are the reason why two million souls are breathing and living today. He’s Schindler on steroids.

And yet, Google the name James Harrison and you will have to click through several pages before you run across him. Most of the hits are for some football player with a history of domestic violence who came out of retirement last year.

The James Harrison I’m referring to is an Australian and one-time holder of the Guinness World Record for blood donations who has put out his right arm more than 1,100 times. He donates an astonishing 32 times a year. His legacy hasn’t gone entirely unnoticed, however; at least some admirers were calling out his name for a Nobel prize.

Harrison made a promise to become a blood donor at age 14 after undergoing major chest surgery in which he needed 13 litres of blood. And he hasn’t stopped, or even considered ending his run.

But that’s just part of his extraordinary story. What makes this James Harrison special is that, shortly after he started donating, he learned his blood has a life-saving antibody which over the years has saved millions of babies born with brain damage because of Rhesus disease. His blood led to the development of a vaccine known as Anti-D, which prevents Rh(D) negative women from developing those antibodies during pregnancy which can harm their babies. Among the women he has helped was his own daughter Tracey who was able to give birth to a healthy son thanks to her father’s blood.

He may not leap over tall buildings or outrun a speeding train but, as a YouTube video with an unfortunate robotic narrator put it, he’s saved more than two million babies’ lives. “And in real life, it doesn’t get cooler than that.”

I sometimes think about James Harrison during my own blood donations. I’m a member of the 50-plus donor club with Canadian Blood Services. When I reached my own milestone, the good folks who run the blood clinics as well as friends and family congratulated me. But I feel as if my contributions are but tiny droplets compared to a superstar like James Harrison. Maybe that’s how many of us feel in a world that we fear is getting worse by the day.

At a time when climate catastrophes and Isis and Vladimir Putin scare the shit out of me, does my single pint of blood every two months make a difference? Even if each pint does, as one Canadian Blood Services employee once reminded me, save up to three lives?

I suppose my donating blood is done in the same spirit as the people who sponsor impoverished children in the developing world. Does that make any difference in blunting the pain of hunger, disease and illiteracy that plagues much of our global village?

Probably not. Or maybe it makes all the difference in the world? Perhaps James Harrison also finds he’s but a bit player on the global stage of people making a difference. Schindler also felt overwhelmed and considered himself a failure against what he felt were overwhelming odds.

Maybe it’s true that, “Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire.” Even if one of us is blessed with the gift of saving two million lives.

I won’t preach about the need to donate blood. I leave it to each and every person out there to do what she or he wants and can do to make the world a little better.

It’s enough for me to say that giving blood feels right for me. I also make a bit of a game out of it and marvel at the efficiency of the Canadian Blood Services each time I donate.

When I arrive at a clinic, my name is taken and a worker pricks a finger to sample my blood. On one such visit, I am relieved to find that my iron level is 140, which is higher than the 125 minimum required to donate blood. I was turned away on the previous visit and given a helpful sheet of information with tips on boosting my iron levels.

Then there are the preliminary questions that have to be answered. Each time I skip over, “If female, in the last 6 months have you been pregnant?” They must think I’m a smart-ass.

My favourite question is the last: “Have you, in your past or present job, taken care of or handled monkeys or their body fluids?” Does working with monkeys disqualify me?

Then there is the list of high-risk questions, many of them sexually related.

During my discussion with a nurse, I have to explain again that I have Thalassemia Minor which is common to people of Mediterranean descent. It also is not cause for concern, although the unfortunate Major carriers are another matter.

My temperature and blood pressure is taken and, until Canadian Blood Services removed this as a requirement recently, the nurse would leave the area and ask me to choose a “Yes” or “No” sticker if I feel my blood can be used.

Then it’s time donate. Laying on the bed, I’m listing to Van Halen’s “Hot for Teacher” belting out over the speakers and the clinic worker assigned to me is defending the choice of radio station.

“It gets the heart pumping,” she tells her co-workers.

She prods my arm for a vein and after poking me discovers nothing is coming out into the tube. There’s a moment of quiet panic on her face as she motions for a co-worker to come help her and she tries to adjust the needle to get my blood to flow, but she handles it professionally.

I feel sorry for her. I learn later that she’s been off the job for a year because of a bad back. She must have been worried sick when she realized she didn’t tap into my vein properly.

Finally, the red life-source starts flowing through the tube and we both feel a sense of relief. I also think of how, in a world of cheap, meaningless commercial slogans, the Canadian Blood Services motto — “It’s in you to give” — really is true.

I also reflect on a remarkable story that I once heard on the radio about a wedding photo that a woman found near Ground Zero after the 9/11 attack in New York. It took her 13 years before she heard from someone who identified himself and everyone else in that snapshot. Incredibly, everyone in that photo is still alive, including the bride and groom who are still happily married and living in California.

That story has nothing to do with donating blood or saving lives, of course. But it has everything to do with the small, life-affirming things we can and should do to help brighten our world — whether it’s helping three people with your blood, tracking down the people in a wedding photo or saving two million babies.

There is a famous quote attributed to the ancient philosopher Philo of Alexandria: “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle.” Words to live by, surely.

Claudio D’Andrea has been a journalist for 30 years, writing and editing for newspapers, magazine and online publications. You can read his stuff onLinkedIn and Medium.com and follow him on Twitter.