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Towana Looney, who received a pig kidney transplant in November 2024, goes over notes about her recovery with Dr. Jeffrey Stern at NYU Langone Health in New York, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. —AP Photo/Shelby Lum
NEW YORK — An Alabama woman passed a major milestone on Saturday to become the longest living recipient of a pig organ transplant.
“I’m superwoman,” Towana Looney, 53, said after 61 days and counting with her new kidney.
Article continues after this advertisementHer vibrant recovery is a morale boost in the quest to make animal-to-human transplants a reality. Only four other Americans have received hugely experimental transplants of gene-edited pig organs, and none lived more than two months.
In a statement Wednesday, the finance department said it has signed a loan agreement amounting $111.427 million or about P6.34 billion for the Samar Pacific Coastal Road (SPCR) II project in Northern Samar, which is being supported by the Export-Import Bank of Korea-Economic Development Cooperation Fund, while a memorandum of understanding (MOU) was also signed and exchanged for the Laguna Lakeshore Road Network Project Phase 1 and the Panay-Guimaras-Negros Island Bridges Project.
In a statement on Wednesday, the internet service provider said that Infinera would supply the submarine line terminal equipment, which facilitates the data transmission, for the fiber cable project.
FEATURED STORIES GLOBALNATION Trump refugee embargo cancels hope for Afghan migrants GLOBALNATION Brazil slams US after dozens of deportees arrive handcuffed GLOBALNATION US-bound refugees in Hong Kong despair as Trump halts arrivalsREAD:L Pig kidney transplant gives US woman second chance in life
More than 100,000 people are on the US transplant list—with most needing a kidney as thousands die waiting.
Article continues after this advertisementLooney donated a kidney to her mother in 1999. Later pregnancy complications caused high blood pressure that damaged her remaining kidney, which eventually failed—something incredibly rare among living donors.
Article continues after this advertisementShe spent eight years on dialysis and had developed very high levels of antibodies abnormally primed to attack another human kidney.
Article continues after this advertisementSo Looney sought out the procedure. After initial signs of rejection, she was successfully treated, said Dr. Robert Montgomery of NYU Langone Health, who led the transplant.
There’s no way to predict how long her new kidney will work. But he said “We’re quite optimistic that this is going to… work well for, you know, a significant period of time.” —AP
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