Hi,

Imagine you discovered that you had a life saving medicine circulating in your blood. Imagine you were asked to give up an hour of your time every three weeks for the rest of your life so doctors could harvest that medicine? For no other payment than the knowledge that you are doing good, that you are doing the right thing.

Australian James Harrison quietly did exactly this for 63 years. The anti-D antibodies in his blood plasma saved an estimated 2.4m babies suffering from Haemolytic Disease of the Newborn (HDN).

I’d like to think that anyone who discovered they had this ability cursing through their veins would do the same. But it’s easier if you have been taught that someone already did an amazing, selfless thing. So when we hear about these good people we highlight them on TGT.

The questions stimulated tutees to discuss whether asking James and others to donate blood and plasma for free was right, or whether they should be paid, as they are in America. Clearly, James didn’t need paying!

-Bill