Tim Andrews knew he needed dialysis to control his terminal stage kidney disease, but after months of treatment, he began to question if he was worth it. He was exhausted and hopeless. I missed the grandchildren. This kept him alive, but it didn’t seem to be living. Desperate by another option, he found a surprising alternative: a pork.
Andrews, 67, is a pioneer of a new type of medicine. In January, he underwent an experimental transplant between species of a genetically modified pig kidney. It is one of the few patients who have undergone the experimental procedure. For now, he is the only person in the United States known for living with a pig kidney.
Andrews knew there was a risk of trying something so new, but if the kidney gave him just another free day of dialysis, it would be worth it – for him and other patients. “This will do something for humanity,” said Andrews.
“Choose a box”
Andrews lived with diabetes since the 1990s, controlling the condition with insulin. About two and a half years ago, he went to the doctor feeling exceptionally tired. The exams showed that it had renal renal stage 3 – its kidneys still worked, but with less efficiency than they should. He was relieved to learn that he was controllable with medication, monitoring and lifestyle changes.
But about a month later, a doctor brought more bad news: Andrews’ kidney disease had quickly progressed to terminal internship. Dialysis was the only option to keep you alive until you got an organ transplant.
Dialysis is highly effective in blood cleaning, but imposes a “huge load” on the body, the doctors of Andrews told CNN . At first Andrews thought it was going well. But about six months later, he had a heart attack.
“This charges its price, emotionally and physically,” said Andrews, who lives in New Hampshire.
He was tempted to fully abandon dialysis until a doctor warned him that if he did so, he should “choose a coffin.” With the state where his kidneys were, his body would be in it in a few months.
For six hours, three days a week, he persisted. In days off, I slept. When I woke up, I had to start the whole process again.
Thinking about his experience with dialysis, Andrews appreciates what doctors and nurses did to keep him alive. But when he had to continue sitting on that huge green chair connected to the dialysis machine, the whole situation also affected his spirit.
I was very tired to walk or shop. I couldn’t eat. Even in the few hours when she felt good, her immune system was so weak that she had to avoid crowds. Dialysis meant no longer Red Sox games, no more fun with grandchildren, no more travel.
As the hours passed, I couldn’t think of gratitude. I could only think about death. The side effects of dialysis were so bad that he wanted to give up, but his wife, Karen, did not let. He also kept listening to his father’s voice in his mind, saying to stop complaining and start doing something about his situation.
“I know what the final stage means”
Andrews found that his chances of getting a human kidney donation was not good. Almost 90,000 people are on the waiting list for a Kidney in the US. Most do not receive a transplant because they get too sick or die while waiting for a compatibility.
Andrews’s chances were lower than most due to their rare blood type. People usually wait about three to five years for a donor kidney. For him, it would be probably seven to ten years. The doctors thought his body would hold only five years of dialysis.
“I was a little short,” said Andrews. “I know what the final stage means.”
But his research gave him hope. Massachusetts General Hospital was also investigating animal alternatives. He demanded that the hospital contact put him in contact with one of the doctors of that project: Dr. Leonardo Riella, medical director of kidney transplantation at the mass general.
When they met, Andrews was “very fragile,” said Riella. He arrived in a wheelchair. But when Riella mentioned what is known as xenotransplant – transplants using genetically modified pig organs – Andrews’s eyes “shone.”
Riella told Andrews that he would need to be much stronger if he wanted any kind of transplant.
In the following months, Andrews went to the gym and physical therapy, treated his teeth, took several vaccines and lost 10 pounds. When he returned to the clinic a few months later, Riella said Andrews was “almost running around the room.”
He talked to people about the procedure. He prayed. His wife, Karen, also needed to agree: if they received green light, she would need to sign consent roles. In the remote chance of him contracting an organ virus, she would also be exposed.
“I was a little surprised by that,” said Karen. But she had no doubt that this transplant, though uncommon, was the right way. “It has to be better than dialysis,” she said. “He was feeling so bad all the time.”
A New Anniversary
In January, the time has finally arrived. On the day of surgery, his family hugged him and kissed to say goodbye. Karen gave her a high-end and wished good luck.
The procedure should take four hours, but only about two hours and 15 minutes later, Karen said his phone rang. The doctors ended early and said they ran “incredibly well.”
A team of doctors told Karen that they had successfully connected the genetically modified pork to the non -functional agency of Andrews.
“They put the kidney on the table and started connecting it to the kidney, and he really urinated through the room,” Karen said, laughing. Everyone in the operating room began to celebrate. “Of course I started to cry like a baby,” said Karen.
It all happened so fast that even the doctors who had the surgery were surprised. “It worked immediately and the numbers started to improve,” said Riella.
After waking up from the surgery, Andrews felt “invigorated and revitalized.” “I had been alive, and it was a long time ago I wasn’t,” he said.
He jumped out of bed and shook around the room, he said. His mind was clear. “It was a miracle,” said Andrews. So much so that he stated that he had a new birthday. “I said,” Look at me, it’s like I’m a new man, “he said. “It’s like a new birth. I said,“ I have a new birthday. 01/25/25 is my new birthday ”.
“Now I can do everything I want”
After the transplant, Andrews spent a week in the hospital, but only by precaution. In the following months, he had some “small obstacles,” including a three -week hospitalization. But the pig kidney does what a kidney of a living human donor would do.
Life is returning to normal. Andrews cook, aspirator passes and makes long walks with your dog, cupcake.
Currently, he takes more than 50 tablets a day while doctors try to find out the type of medicines he will need with his new kidney. But living without dialysis made a big difference. “Basically, I was just sleeping, sick all the time. Now I can do anything I want,” said Andrews.
“They saw me at my worst moment, and now they can see me alive and laughing and behaving like Grandpa does,” said Andrews.
If all goes well, he hopes to take Karen to Europe in a year. He said they postponed this too long.
“It’s a learning curve”
Still, Andrews knows that the pig kidney may not work in the long run. He is still on the waiting list for a human organ. If the pig kidney can act like a bridge that keeps him healthy enough to wait for a compatibility with a human donor, it would be a medical framework – and a success.
Andrews is the fourth living patient in the US receiving a genetically modified pork transplant, and will not be the last. In addition to the ongoing clinical trial at the Mass General in conjunction with the Egesnesis Biotechnology company, United Therapeutics Corp – the other main biotechnology company that helps create pork – announced in February that it would be allowed to start its own clinical trials with New York University.
In March 2024, Richard Slayman became the first living patient in the world to receive a genetically modified pork kidney. The operation in the mass general was successful, but he died two months later for causes not related to transplantation.
The doctors said they learned a lot from the Slayman experience. He had heart scars after eight years of dialysis, Riella said, and it is probably important to treat patients like Andrews, who have not needed dialysis for so long.
In April 2024, Lisa Pisano became the first person to receive a mechanical cardiac bomb and a genetically edited pig kidney. The organ failed due to limited blood flow and was removed the following month. She passed away in July 2024.
In November 2024, the 53 -year -old Nyu transplained Towana Looney with a genetically modified pork kidney. The agency worked for four months and nine days, the longest period so far, but doctors had to remove it in April when their immune system began to reject it.
Doctors say that finding out how to manage rejection will be critical. The pork kidneys that Andrews and Slayman received had 69 genomic editions, while Loony’s had less. Doctors say they do not yet know how many editions are necessary, but both versions of modified pork kidneys have had swine genes removed and human genes added to make the organ more compatible with the human body.
Patients also receive anti -rejection drugs and portable remote monitoring tools. But doctors are still finding out how much medicine and monitoring are needed. “It’s a learning curve,” said Riella.
Riella is hopeful that xenotransplantation may one day resolve the worldwide scarcity of organ. “I think patients like Tim will be remembered as heroes,” he said. “Without them willing to take the risk, we would not be able to take this to the clinic.”
Andrews remember what it was like to have to make the choice. But it also remembers what it was to sit for hours in the center of dialysis. “It’s hard to accept mortality. You think” oh, I can handle it “and everything, but it’s hard,” he said recently, back to the green chair where he was doing dialysis. “It was very difficult to realize it was that.”
“I was going to die in this building.” He found a way out. He expects his story to inspire others to also seek hope. “I see a lot of people giving up,” said Andrews. “Don’t give up.”
*The correspondents of CNN Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Amanda Sealy, Nadia Kounang, Rayna Sims and Melissa Dunst Lipman contributed to this report.
This content was originally published in man with pork kidney says transplantation made him “born again” on CNN Brazil.
Source: CNN Brasil
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