According to The New York Times, 66-year-old Andrews suffered from severe kidney failure developed against the backdrop of diabetes and hypertension. The man regularly underwent hemodialysis, but the procedures exhausted him significantly. The situation was complicated by his rare blood type and the slim chances of quickly receiving a compatible human organ. On January 25, 2025, he received a kidney from a genetically modified pig at Massachusetts General Hospital. Such operations fall under the experimental field of xenotransplantation — the use of animal organs to treat humans. ### 271 Days Without Dialysis The pig kidney allowed Andrews to forgo dialysis and functioned for nearly nine months. In October 2025, the condition of the organ began to deteriorate: blood clots formed in the kidney's blood vessels. On the night of October 22 to 23, it had to be removed. After that, the man returned to dialysis. However, by January 2026, he was informed that a suitable human donor had been found. The transplant was successful. A particularly important question for doctors was whether the previous xenotransplant would hinder the subsequent transplant of a human organ. So far, according to The New York Times, concerns have not been confirmed: the previous pig kidney, based on observations of Andrews and another patient, did not provoke an immune reaction that would make human transplantation impossible. ### Why Pig Organs Are Needed Doctors view such operations primarily as a possible way to buy time for critically ill patients who have been waiting for a donor organ for years. According to Massachusetts General Hospital specialist Leonardo Riella, prolonged dialysis can weaken patients so much that some become too ill for transplantation or die while waiting for their turn. The kidneys for experimental operations are produced by the biotechnology company eGenesis. Under the FDA's expanded access program, such organs have already been received by five patients for whom standard treatment options were extremely limited. Andrews' story is significant as evidence of a new possibility: a genetically modified pig kidney can potentially be used not necessarily as a lifelong replacement for a human one, but as a temporary organ allowing the patient to wait for a suitable donor.
