Alabama woman living with pig kidneys was removing it after a 130-day record kidney woman had her body started to reject it.
Towana Rooney of Gadsden, Alabama, returned to Japan following an April 4 surgery at NYU Langone Health.
Rooney thanked the doctors for “an opportunity to participate in this incredible study.”
Pig kidney transplant recipient Towana Rooney will undergo a morning health check with Dr. Jeffrey Stern at Nyu Langone Health in New York on Friday, January 24th, 2025. (AP photo/Shellby Rum)
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The doctor is now back on dialysis, but this experience has given him much needed information about his journey to a solution.
“The outcome is not something nobody wanted, but I know I've learned a lot from my 130 days with pig kidneys, and I know this can help and stimulate many other people on my journey to overcome kidney disease,” Rooney told The Associated Press.
According to the Associated Press, Rooney had been on dialysis since 2016 and was abnormally prepared to reject human kidneys.
Since this procedure, she has called herself a “superwoman” and has been able to live longer than anyone with gene-edited pig organs. Rooney had organs from November 25th to early April.
Pig kidney transplant recipient Towana Rooney sits with two transplant surgeons, Dr. Jayme Locke, at Nyu Langone Health in New York on December 10, 2024. (AP photo/Shellby Rum)
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Rooney's surgeon Dr. Robert Montgomery said the denial is being investigated.
He and her doctors determined that the risk was lower than removing pig kidneys.
“We did something safe,” Montgomery told the Associated Press. “She's not worse than before (XenoTransplant). She said she's better because she's had the last four months of break from dialysis.”
Rooney had a pre-infectious disease and her immunosuppressive anti-rejection drugs had slightly reduced, Montgomery said. At the same time, her immune system was revitalizing after the transplant. These factors could be combined to damage new kidneys, he said.
Lisa Pisano looks at photos of her dog after surgery at Nyu Langone Health in New York on Monday, April 22, 2024. (AP photo/Shellby Rum)
Lisa Pisano, the second person who received a kidney from a gene-edited pig in May last year, also had to remove it to resume dialysis.
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Over 100,000 people have been placed on the US transplant waiting list, with most people needing kidneys and thousands waiting. With several biotech companies genetically modifying pigs in the hopes of filling the shortage of donated organs, organs are more human and less likely to be destroyed by people's immune systems.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
