First living patient to receive pig kidney Richard “Rick” Slayman dead at 62, weeks after historic transplant

usa news

by nikki mascari rorty

The first living patient to receive a kidney from a genetically engineered pig has died two months after the breakthrough transplant, his family and doctors announced Saturday.

Richard “Rick” Suleiman, 62, went home in March, two weeks after undergoing a transplant at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

“Thanks to their hard work leading the xenotransplant, our family was able to spend an additional seven weeks with Rick. The memories made during that time will remain in our hearts and minds. ” his family said in a statement about the practice of using animal cells and tissues to heal human patients. Organs, etc.

Suleiman, who lives in the Boston suburb of Weymouth, said he underwent the drastic surgery because of ongoing dialysis complications that required him to be hospitalized every two weeks.

“I saw it as a way not only to help me, but also to give hope to the thousands of people who need transplants to survive,” he said in a statement at the time.

“Rick achieved that goal and his hope and optimism will last forever,” his family said Saturday.

The Massachusetts transplant team said there was “no indication that it was the result of a recent transplant.”

“Mr. Suleiman will forever be seen as a beacon of hope for countless transplant patients around the world, and we are deeply grateful for his trust and desire to advance the field of xenotransplantation.” the facility said. According to NBC Boston.

“We extend our deepest condolences to Mr. Suleiman’s family and loved ones in memory of an extraordinary man whose generosity and kindness touched all who knew him.”

This will be the historic kidney surgery for Suleiman, who has end-stage renal disease and suffered from type 2 diabetes for many years. He received his first transplant from a human donor in 2018 after being on dialysis for seven years.

He was optimistic when he was discharged from the hospital after the historic surgery.

“Today, this moment of being able to leave the hospital in the best state of health I have had in a long time, is a moment that I have wanted to come for years. Now it is a reality and in my life One of the happiest moments,” Suleiman said in a statement.

Before Suleiman, pig kidneys had only been tested on brain-dead donors, but the two men who received pig hearts both died within a few months.

These attempts often fail because the human immune system destroys tissue from foreign animals, and recent surgeries like Suleiman’s use pig organs that have been modified to more closely resemble humans. There is.

with post wire