BREVARD, Fla. — A marvel of modern science, David Bennett continues to defy odds, surviving more than a month after his pig heart transplant.
On Sunday, Bennett sat up in bed and meekly sang “America the Beautiful” as Jhené Aiko belted out her rendition prior to Super Bowl LVI. Bennett, who received a genetically modified pig heart during a transplant on Jan. 7, is recovering at the University of Maryland Medical Center.
“The heart is doing great. We have several cardiologists trying to find any fault in it but they have not been able to do it,” said lead surgeon Dr. Muhammad M. Mohiuddin, Professor of Surgery and Director of the Cardiac Xenotransplantation Program at the University of Maryland School of Medicine . “The heart is contracting vigorously as it should. It has shown no signs of rejection.”
Bennett, 57, is a Steelers fan by trade. He has learned during his recovery period that quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has retired after 18 seasons.
He was adamant that he got to see the Los Angeles Rams play the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI.
Sitting up in bed, a great sign in and of itself, with physical therapist Dr. Christine Wells right alongside him, he did his best to muster a gentle voice while signing “America the Beautiful.”
The next item on his checklist is to see his appropriately named dog, whom he misses.
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“He is making strides in terms of posture, able to hold himself up, hold his head up,” said Dr. Bartley P. Griffith, Director of the Cardiac Transplant Program at the University of Maryland Medical Center. “He can be a chatter box.
“He has a marvelous memory of what’s at home. We were talking about his favorite dog, Lucky. Lucky is waiting for him.”
Doctors are hoping they might get a visit to the hospital cleared for Lucky.
In the meantime, there is a team of doctors monitoring him in hopes he can be the blueprint for future heart transplant recipients.
Bennett had terminal heart disease and several medical centers had determined he was ineligible for a human transplant.
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Doctors say this new transplant is a breakthrough because the donor pig had undergone gene-editing to remove a specific type of sugar from its cells thought to be responsible for previous organ rejections in patients.
Pig organs are considered suitable for transplantation to humans because they are about the same size and shape.
Now, the University of Maryland Medical Center and Dr. Mohiuddin are ready to share their work with other experts in the field.
“The main reason for us to publish our work is to share it with the community and share it with our other colleagues that are working in the field of xenotransplantation,” Mohiuddin said. “We believe that the field will not move forward by one center doing it on an individual basis.”
Mohiuddin added: “This information needs to be shared, other centers need to repeat what we have done and if our successes can be repeated it adds authenticity to our work and helps in moving the field forward at a rapid pace.”
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George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism