By all accounts, I shouldn’t even be alive… shouldn’t be sitting here writing this article.

And I owe my life to a wonderful Australian, James Harrison.

You see, before I was born my mum could not come full term with her pregnancies and it was all because of Rhesus disease (an RH blood problem – a form of severe anaemia), that results in babies dying, or having permanent brain damage or anaemia. I had heard the story all through my life of the two brothers I will never meet, had read the news clippings that my mum stuck inside my baby book about the wonder serum, and listened to what my mum had to go through to ensure I came into the world.

For some reason unbeknownst to me at the time, I felt compelled to watch the current affairs program this Sunday just gone, called ‘Sunday Night’.  And I was totally blown away when I started listening to the story of the Accidental Hero, James Harrison.  Because here I was, some 39 years later, hearing about the story of the man who made my birth possible.

Here is a true hero, dubbed the man with the golden arm

For the last 56 years, James Harrison, who is now 74 and has an extremely rare blood type that has a life-saving antibody, has religiously given blood every few weeks and, in September of this year, will commemorate his 1000th blood donation. Wow! After he first started donating, it led to the development of a vaccine called Anti-D, and James was so valuable they even insured him for 1 million Australian dollars!

Well, fast forward to today, and because of his generosity to donate in the first place – and be a guinea pig (for want of a better word) and keep on donating – Mr James Harrison has helped save 2.2 million babies so far; and I’m one of them   Yes, I did say 2.2 MILLION.

It made me cry with deep gratitude… I just couldn’t believe what I was watching – after all these years!   I think God / The Universe was telling me to watch that program for some reason.

So why am I telling you all of this? Because unfortunately, not enough Australians (I don’t know about other parts of the world) are donating blood each year…

If it wasn’t for James Harrison, I wouldn’t be here, and 2.2 million other babies would either not be alive or suffering from brain damage or other health conditions.  Just think about that for a minute. 2.2 million babies. All because one man decided to donate blood, that resulted in a vaccine to allow 2.2 million babies to live – and with healthy lives. THAT is amazing!

Regardless of where you live in the world, let’s take a pledge to donate blood – even if you can only do it once; that’s okay.  Once may be enough, because you may very well be saving another person’s life. I’ve never even thought about it myself until now, but I hereby say to you that I am taking the pledge.  And I’ll post about it when I’ve donated

Please take the time to view this 8-minute video about James Harrison. It will touch your heart.

View it here:

http://au.tv.yahoo.com/sunday-night/video/-/watch/18731245/

My goodness, it is SO GREAT to be alive and kicking!!!

PS: Please remember to take the pledge!

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Please take a moment to view this short video about The Empty Suitcase Project, by Jeremy Manongdo, to help out the kids in Tanzania.

Truly inspirational!

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1. I Shouldn’t Be Alive… But I am.

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I wonder why people worry about wrinkles?

I don’t call them wrinkles. I like to think of them as life-lines. What do I mean? Hmm… when I’m in need of a pick-me-up, all I have to do is look at my dad’s life-lines and I am reminded of life’s little treasures …

I look at the entrenched line around his left eye … he’s talking to me, but I’m not listening!! I’m transported back to the time when he left the plastic pot plant holder on top of the wood stove. An hour later the room stank and the wood stove was decorated with melted green plastic!! I chuckle. “Yes Dad, I’m listening”, I assure him.

My gaze shifts to the line running around his right eye. Wow! I reckon I put that one there. I smile.

Shift to the life-line next to it. I’m sent back to my Melbournian days. Phew! Lucky Dad didn’t have a heart attack that time he walked into the wrong apartment – and came across a naked woman! I’ve never seen Dad look so shocked!! I laugh really hard. “No Dad. I know what you said wasn’t funny. I am listening!”

I try to concentrate on what he’s saying. Dad smiles. And right there, right where I am looking, is a laugh life-line! Yep. I remember that Christmas 15 years ago when we put on a CD – right up loud – and Dad, Mum, my sister and I danced round the lounge room, laughing and singing at the top of our lungs!!! It was a cowboy song (hmm… can’t remember which one – wonder where that life-line is?!), and we were really going for it, clapping and stomping and yee-haaing! Our front door was open, and when the song was finished we all collapsed in a heap laughing, looked over to the door, and there’s this stranger looking at us like we were exhibits in a zoo! Ahh… that sure was funny! What a great treasure that one!!

As I’m remembering this I chuckle, then giggle, then lean over with mirth. I look up. Dad’s looking at me, smiling.

“Sorry, Dad, what were you saying?” As he goes on, I see the life-line round his nose. Ahh… I remember when…

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