Alabama woman passed a major milestone on Saturday and became the recipient of the longest lifetime of pig organ transplants. Healthy and full of energy with new kidneys for 61 days.
“I'm a superwoman,” Towana Rooney told the Associated Press, laughing as she continues to recover by overtaking New York City on a long walk. “That's a new view of life.”
Rooney's vibrant recovery is a morale boost in his quest to make animal-to-human transplants a reality. Only four other Americans have undergone highly experimental transplants of gene-edited pig organs (two hearts and two kidneys) but have not lived there for more than two months.
“If she saw her on the street, she wouldn't think she was the only person in the world roaming around with functional pig organs,” said Dr. Robert Montgomery of Nyu Langone Health, who led the Rooney transplant.
Montgomery calls Rooney's kidney function “absolutely normal.” The doctor hopes that for his home in Gadsden, Alabama, she will be able to leave New York, where she temporarily lives for a post-transplant health check.
“We are very optimistic that this continues to work and is working well for a considerable amount of time,” he said.
Scientists are genetically altering pigs, so organs are more human to address the serious shortage of human organs that can be transplanted. Over 100,000 people are on the US transplant list, most need kidneys, and thousands wait and die.
So far, organ transplants in pigs have been a case of “compassionate use.”
And a few hospitals testing them are sharing information about what worked and what didn't work in preparation for the world's first formal study, which is expected to begin later this year. United Therapeutics, which supplied Rooney's kidneys, recently sought permission from the Food and Drug Administration to start trial.
Rooney Farez is “an invaluable experience,” said Dr. Kawakai of Massachusetts General Hospital, who led the world's first pig kidney transplant last year and worked with Eisenesis, another pig developer.
Rooney was much healthier than her previous patients, Kawai pointed out, so her progress will help inform her next attempt. “We have to learn from each other,” he said.
Rooney donated his kidneys to his mother in 1999. Subsequently, the complications of pregnancy caused hypertension and damaged the remaining kidneys. She spent eight years on dialysis before she concluded that she would likely never get the organs she had donated.
Rooney, 53, asked for a pig experiment. No one knew how it worked with “high sensitization” with those hyperactive antibodies.
Montgomery's team, who was discharged from the hospital just 11 days after the November 25th surgery, closely followed the recovery through blood tests and other measurements. Approximately three weeks after the transplant, they captured subtle signs that rejection had begun. Signs learned that pig kidneys are looking for when they worked 61 days among the deceased men who were donated for research thanks to the 2023 experiment.
Montgomery said they had successfully treated Rooney and there were no signs of rejection. A few weeks ago, she met the family behind the deceased's research.
“I'm so glad to know that the decision NYU to use his brother is the right decision and that it helps people,” said Mary Miller Duffy of Newburgh, New York.
Rooney is in turn trying to help others, working as a man who calls the ambassador for those reaching out to her through social media, waiting for a long time for a transplant and sharing pains, wondering about pig kidneys.
She was considered for xenografts at another hospital, but she was scared and wondered if she should go ahead, she said.
“I didn't want to convince him whether or not I should do it,” Rooney said. Instead, she asked if he was religious, prayed to him, urging him to “leave your faith, what your heart says to you.”
“I love talking to people and I love helping people,” she added. “I want to be some educational part” to help others.
There is no way to predict how long Rooney's new kidney will function, but if she fails, she can get dialysis again.
“The truth is, this is the first time we've come this far. “We have to keep our eyes on her.”
