'New beginning': First man to successfully receive pig kidney transplant gets discharged from hospital

Following his discharge from the hospital, the first man to receive a successful kidney transplant from a pig said the moment was "one of the happiest" of his life and marked a "new beginning" for him.

Richard "Rick" Slayman of Weymouth, Massachusetts was discharged on April 3, less than three weeks after successfully received a genetically modified pig kidney during a four-hour surgery March 16 at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, becoming the first time someone survived with that organ from another species.

"This moment – leaving the hospital today with one of the cleanest bills of health I’ve had in a long time – is one I wished would come for many years," Slayman said in a statement on the day of his discharge. "Now, it’s a reality and one of the happiest moments of my life."

In his statement, Slayman, a systems manager for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, thanked the hospital and its staff and doctors for supporting him throughout the treatment and procedure and making it easy for him.

Surgery marks moment amid organ transplant demand

More than 100,000 people are on the national organ transplant list, though less than half that many transplants are done each year. Even more in need of an organ never make it to the list at all because they are not good candidates for a transplant, or they die first.

That's why researchers have been working for decades to find a way to use pig organs as replacements for human ones.

Slayman's procedure marked a significant moment in medical history given its success, with surgeon Tatsuo Kawai telling reporters that the pig kidney immediately turned pink when he connected the human and porcine blood vessels and ureter. It rapidly produced urine.

"It was truly the most beautiful urine I have ever seen," Kawai had said.

The pig, which donated its life and its kidney to Slayman, was raised on a farm in an undisclosed Midwestern location and flown to Boston for the procedure, said Mike Curtis, CEO of eGenesis, the biotech company that breeds and raises gene-edited pigs for transplant.

What does the future hold? First-ever kidney transplant from gene-edited pig offers hope for thousands

Why was the transplant needed?

Slayman has had type 2 diabetes for 30 years and was on dialysis for seven years before receiving his first kidney transplant from a deceased donor in 2018, said his nephrologist, Dr. Winfred Williams.

Even before the transplant, his veins were making dialysis difficult, Williams said, because they kept clotting, blocking blood flow.

After five years, the new organ began failing. It was removed and he was placed back on dialysis.

He had 30 to 40 surgical and radiological procedures to keep his veins open, but dialysis still wasn't working well. "I witnessed my patient becoming despondent and depressed," Williams said. "At one point he told me … 'I just can't go on.' I began to think about extraordinary measures."

That's when he began to consider Slayman a candidate for the pig transplant surgery.

Meanwhile, Slayman agreed to the procedure, according to his doctors and a personal statement released by the hospital, because his medical options were so limited and as "a way to provide hope for the thousands of people who need a transplant to survive."

Slayman's recovery is 'progressing smoothly'

Slayman is now "excited to resume spending time with my family, friends, and loved ones" sans the "burden of dialysis" that impacted his quality of life for many years. He said that his recovery is "progressing smoothly" and that he is looking for "privacy at this time".

"Lastly, I want to thank anyone who has seen my story and sent well-wishes, especially patients waiting for a kidney transplant," he concluded. "Today marks a new beginning not just for me, but for them, as well."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Pig kidney transplant: Rick Slayman recovery is 'progressing smoothly'