First living patient to receive a pig kidney Richard “Rick” Slayman died at age 62, weeks after the historic transplant

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

Richard “Rick” Slayman, 62, was sent home in March, two weeks after undergoing the transplant at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

“Your tremendous effort in performing the xenotransplantation gave our family seven more weeks with Rick, and the memories we made during that time will remain in our thoughts and hearts,” his family said in a statement about the practice Healing human patients with animal cells and tissues or organs.

Slayman, from Weymouth, a Boston suburb, said he underwent the daring procedure after suffering ongoing dialysis complications that required him to be hospitalized every two weeks.

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

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

Mass General’s transplant team said it had “no indication that this was the result of his recent transplant.”

“Mr. Slayman 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 willingness to advance the field of xenotransplantation,” the facility said, according to NBC Boston.

“We extend our deepest condolences to Mr. Slayman’s family and loved ones as they remember an extraordinary person whose generosity and kindness touched all who knew him.”

The historic kidney procedure was the second for Slayman, who suffered from end-stage kidney disease and suffered from type 2 diabetes for years. He received his first transplant – from a human donor – in 2018 after being on dialysis for seven years.

He was optimistic as he left the hospital after the historic operation.

“This moment – ​​leaving the hospital today with one of the cleanest medical records I have had in a long time – is something I would wish for for many years to come. Now it’s a reality and one of the happiest moments of my life,” Slayman said in a statement.

Before Slayman, pig kidneys were only tested on brain-dead donors, while two men who received pig hearts died within months.

The effort often fails because the human immune system would destroy the foreign animal tissue, and newer procedures like Slayman’s use organs from pigs that have been modified to look more human.

With post wires