Richard Slayman, who made history at age 62 as the first person to receive a kidney from a genetically modified pig, has died about two months after the procedure.
Massachusetts General Hospital, where Slayman had the operation, said in a statement Saturday that its transplant team was “deeply saddened” at his death.
The hospital said it had “no indication that it was the result of his recent transplant.”Slayman, a supervisor for the state transportation department from Weymouth, Massachusetts, had received a human kidney in 2018.
When it began to fail in 2023 and he developed congestive heart failure, his doctors suggested he try one from a modified pig.
“I saw it not only as a way to help me, but a way to provide hope for the thousands of people who need a transplant to survive,” he said in a hospital news release in March.
Richard Slayman, who made history at age 62 as the first person to receive a kidney from a genetically modified pig, has died about two months after the procedure.
Massachusetts General Hospital, where Slayman had the operation, said in a statement Saturday that its transplant team was “deeply saddened” at his death. The hospital said it had “no indication that it was the result of his recent transplant.”
Slayman, a supervisor for the state transportation department from Weymouth, Massachusetts, had received a human kidney in 2018. When it began to fail in 2023 and he developed congestive heart failure, his doctors suggested he try one from a modified pig.
“I saw it not only as a way to help me, but a way to provide hope for the thousands of people who need a transplant to survive,” he said in a hospital news release in March.
