Life for Towana Looney hasn’t been easy. After giving her mother one of her kidneys in 1999, the Alabama woman thought the routine procedure would give her mother a new lease on life and herself peace of mind. But instead, Looney would experience an onslaught of her own health problems putting her life in danger.
In 2016, Looney was added to the kidney transplant list following her pregnancy which forced her only kidney into overdrive, according to Health Day. After being diagnosed with kidney failure, Looney’s options were limited. But that’s when a team of doctors in New York City presented her with an unlikely solution.
According to the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA), about 103,000 people in the U.S. are currently on the kidney transplant list. Kidneys are the highest demanded organ in the country, and unfortunately, about 13 people die everyday waiting for a transplant, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS).
Looney, unlike many patients, lucked out after qualifying for a U.S. Food and Drug Administration “expanded access” program, which would provide her with a new kidney, according to Health Day. But there was a catch: Looney wouldn’t receive a human kidney. Instead, a pig’s kidney would be surgically implanted inside the 53-year-old.
The procedure of transferring organs from an animal to a human is called xenotransplantation, and although the practice is still new — it’s only been on the FDA website since 2021 — Looney said “yes” to the November 2024 surgery. “I feel blessed,” she said after the procedure, according to NYU Langone. “I’m so grateful to be alive and thankful to have received this incredible gift.”
The surgery was a success, making her only the third person in the world to receive a pig kidney and the only one living with any type of porcine organ. The organ Looney received had 10 separate genetic edits making it more compatible to the human body, according to Health Day. And for months, the grandmother was living happily and healthy until something went wrong.
One hundred thirty days after the surgery, Looney’s body suddenly rejected the kidney. On April 4, the kidney was removed, although doctors are still unsure what exactly went wrong. Now, Looney will go back to her three-times-a-week dialysis treatments, as she did before the surgery, according to USA Today.
Even though the transplant only provided Looney with a temporary break from dialysis, she said she’s thankful for the opportunity. “For the first time since 2016, I enjoyed time with friends and family without planning around dialysis treatments,” she said. “Though the outcome is not what anyone wanted, I know a lot was learned from my 130 days with a pig kidney—and that this can help and inspire many others in their journey to overcome kidney disease.”