An Australian man credited with saving 2.4 million babies through his record-breaking blood plasma donations over six decades, has died, his family said Tuesday. He was 88. James Harrison, a retired state railway department clerk,

Harrison, whose plasma contained a rare antibody, rolled up his sleeve 1,173 times from 1954 to 2018. The Australian is credited with helping 2.4 million babies and advancing scientific research.

An Australian man who donated blood plasma every three weeks for the past 70 years has died at the age of 88. James Harrison had an antibody in his blood that is used to create the Anti-D injection that routinely stops the immune systems of women with rhesus-negative blood from attacking their unborn rhesus-positive children.