Woman, 53, Has ‘Never Felt Better’ After Undergoing Pig Kidney Transplant: ‘It’s Like a New Beginning’

• Towana Looney, 53, is recovering after undergoing kidney surgery — using the organ from a genetically manipulated pig — on Nov. 25 at NYU Langone Health in New York City
• “It’s like a new beginning,” the Alabama woman told the Associated Press
• “To have a working kidney — and to feel it — is unbelievable,” she added to the news agency

An Alabama woman “is recuperating well” after undergoing a pig kidney transplant in New York City, per reports.

Towana Looney, 53, underwent surgery using the organ from a genetically manipulated pig on Nov. 25 at NYU Langone Health following eight years of dialysis, per the Associated Press.

Looney had previously donated a kidney to her mother back in 1999, before her remaining kidney was later damaged — and eventually failed — due to pregnancy complications, the AP reported. She had developed a high level of antibodies, which meant she’d likely reject other organs kidney donors had to offer.

Looney is the fifth American patient to be given a gene-edited pig organ since 2022 and just the third to receive a kidney, according to the New York Times. Previous patients died within months of undergoing surgery.

Looney — who was discharged from the hospital 11 days after the surgery — is now “recuperating well,” per the AP, despite being “temporarily readmitted this week to adjust her medications.”

“It’s like a new beginning,” she told the news agency, adding, “The energy I had was amazing. To have a working kidney — and to feel it — is unbelievable.”

“You don’t know if it’s going to work or not until you try,” she admitted, per the outlet.

Looney — who is expected to return home to Gadsden, Alabama in three months, according to the AP — told the N.Y. Times that she’s “never felt better” in an interview before she was readmitted to the hospital.

“I used to do one task, sit down and take a rest, then go do another task. Now I multitask!” she added to the outlet of her time on dialysis — a treatment that removes extra fluid and waste from your blood when your kidneys are unable to.

Dr. Robert Montgomery of NYU Langone Health and Dr. Jayme Locke — Looney’s original doctor — worked together on the transplant. It was eventually approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) after Looney first applied in April 2023.

“To see hope restored to her and her family is extraordinary,” Locke said, per the AP.

“This was in many ways her only option,” the doctor added, per the N.Y. Times.

Despite knowing the risks, Looney said, “OK, where do I sign?”, adding Locke warned her of the dangers and the fact that the operation was “new ground.”

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Scientists are now “genetically altering pigs so their organs are more humanlike,” the AP reported. The outlet adds that more than 100,000 people remain on the U.S. transplant list, many of whom are waiting for a kidney. According to USA Today around 5,600 Americans die every year waiting for a human organ to become available.

Looney’s kidney “came from a pig with 10 genetic edits” and was “provided by Revivicor, a subsidiary of United Therapeutics Corporation,” per the N.Y. Times.

“This could completely change the math of end-organ failure and what that means in terms of the likelihood of getting a transplant,” Montgomery — who has had a heart transplant himself — told the outlet.

“Xenotransplantation [the transplantation of living cells, tissues or organs from individuals of species into another species, per the National Institutes of Health] is about eliminating that gamble.” he added.

NYU Langone Health didn’t immediately respond when contacted by PEOPLE for additional updates on Looney’s recovery.