An Alabama woman is the only one left alive pig organ transplant She passed a major milestone on Saturday when she became the longest living person to have a functioning pig organ.
Staying healthy and energetic, 53-year-old Towana Looney reached 61 days on Saturday with her pig kidney.
“I’m Superman,” Rooney told The Associated Press. “This is a new life.”
Only four other Americans have received experimental transplants of gene-edited pig organs – two received hearts and two others received kidneys, but none lasted longer than two months.
Woman receives pig kidney transplant, discharged days later: ‘Second chance’
Towana Looney received a pig kidney transplant in November 2024 and recovered with Dr. Jeffrey Stern at Nyu Langone Health in New York on Friday, January 24, 2025. (AP)
“If you saw her on the street, you wouldn’t know she was the only person in the world with a pig organ who had a functioning heart,” said Nyu Langone Health, who led Rooney’s transplant said Dr. Robert Montgomery.
Montgomery said Rooney’s kidney function was “absolutely normal.” She has been living temporarily in New York so she can get post-transplant tests, but doctors want her to return to her home Gadsden, Alabamaabout a month.
“We’re very optimistic that this will continue to work and work for a long time to come,” Montgomery said.
Scientists are genetically altering pigs so their organs are more like human ones, supporting a critical shortage of human organs available for transplant.
There are more than 100,000 people on the U.S. transplant list. Most of these people needed kidneys, and thousands died.
The Food and Drug Administration allows pig organ transplants only in special circumstances for people who have exhausted other alternatives.
Dr. Tatsuo Kawai of Massachusetts General Hospital, who led the world’s first pig kidney transplant last year and worked with Egenesis, another pig developer, said how well Looney performed was “an extremely valuable experience.”
Towana Looney sits during the NYU Langone Health Press conference on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. (Fox News)
Rooney is much healthier than previous pig organ recipients, according to Chuan, who said her progress will help inform doctors on future attempts.
“We have to learn from each other,” he said.
Looney damaged her remaining kidney.ultimately failed, a rare occurrence among living donors.
She spent eight years on dialysis before doctors determined she was unlikely to receive a donated organ because she had high levels of antibodies that abnormally functioned to attack another type of human kidney.
Looking for an alternative, Looney wanted to try pig organ experiments. No one knows how it will work in “highly sensitive” people with overactive antibodies.
Since the Nov. 25 surgery, Montgomery’s team has taken a closer look with blood tests and other measurements. Approximately three weeks after transplantation, subtle signs of the onset of rejection are detected. They knew to look for these signs because of experiments in 2023, when pig kidneys worked for 61 days in a deceased person whose body had been donated for research.
Massachusetts man, recipient of first successful pig kidney transplant, released from hospital
Outside the entrance to the NYS Lanone Health emergency room on April 6, 2020, in New York City. (Noam Galai/Getty Images)
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Montgomery said his team successfully treated Rooney and there has been no sign of rejection since.
It’s impossible to predict how long Rooney will last with his new kidney. But if it were to fail, she might go on dialysis again.
“The truth is, we don’t really know what the next hurdle is because this is the first time we’ve gone this far,” Montgomery said. “We have to continue to keep an eye on her.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
