June• 2018 | 99
That’s Outrageous!
BLOODY MARVELLOUS
BY MEAGAN BOISSÉ
bloodhassincesavedan
estimated 2.4 million babies,
thisyearhe’llbetoooldto
legally donate. He’s calling
on others to step in:
“Rollupyoursleeve,put
out your arm and save
lives,” he says.
VERY PECULIAR PROCEDURE
hefountainofyouthreallyisilled
with young blood, according to a
US start-up company. Ambrosia,
foundedbyStanfordUniversity
medical graduate Jesse Karmazin,
hasdevelopedaconsumer-funded
‘clinical trial’ in which participants
pay $8000 to receive an injection
of blood plasma from donors who
are25andyounger.heplasma
will make recipients feel smarter
and more youthful, Karmazin
claims. He attributes the beneits
to growth factors and proteins,
vital to cell function, which appear
in greater volume in young blood.
Ambrosia has completed 120-plus
transfusions,butmedicalres-
earchers have raised doubts over
thetrial,whichfeaturesnocontrol
group and isn’t peer-reviewed.
KARMIC JUSTICE
Canadian court judge Mark
Tyndalehasgivenblood
awhopping870-plus
times.Now60years
old, donating was a
simplewaytosave
lives.Butin2013he
found himself on the other
sideoftheequationwhen
hewasrushedtohospitalwith
a deadly lesh-eating disease.
Fortunately, what goes around
comesaround.Tyndalesurvived
after receiving 11 litres of gamma
globulin,which,givenhisproliic
donor record, quite possibly
containedhisownplasma.
CALL TO ACTION
AustralianJamesHarrisonreceiveda
life-savingbloodtransfusionin1951,
atage14.Inspired,theboypledgedto
becomeadonorhimself.It’sagood
thinghedid:16yearslater,hisblood
wasfoundtocontainanantibody
thatwasusedtocreateavaccineto
preventhaemolyticdisease,ablood
disorderinwhichpregnantwomen
form antibodies that attack their
unborn children. While Harrison’s