As of last month, hope striked for a man who underwent an unexpected procedure due to his life-threatening heart disease. His rapid-evolving disease put him at the top of the organ list – the genetically modified pig organ list. This successful surgery transplanted a pig’s heart into the patient, beginning a new era of achievement, an era that could potentially resolve the current critical issue that is the thousands of patients with failing organs.

This eight-hour operation marked the first-ever transplant of a pig organ into a human being. David Bennett Jr., the man who received the heart, was flummoxed when the doctor recommended this alternative as he did not qualify for a human heart transplant due to his bad condition. The canny reply by patient Bennett Jr.: Well, will I oink? It’s a crazy phenomenon that was dreamt upon and has never been done before – that is, until today. 

One month later and it’s working like a charm. Even though it’s functioning nicely, monitoring how Bennett’s body reacts to the pig heart at every moment is crucial as it was a first-time surgery. Anything could go wrong at any time. 

This procedure was a breakthrough as it presented hope for future patients as well. Organs are in high demand and continue to grow in numbers each day. There is a deficit of organs, and roughly a dozen patients on the organ list die every 20 hours. Doctors experimented specifically on pigs because they were the easiest to raise and achieved adulthood quickly. 

Researchers hope medical surgeries such as this one will facilitate a new wave of medicine, lowering the demand for human organs and increasing the supply of all-encompassing organs. 

This heart transplant sparked faith for the dying patients that can’t receive organs because of their high demand. Scientists will continue to do extensive research on the topic so that pigs and other mammals can be used to help humans live longer and healthier lives.