Man recovering after receiving pig heart transplant at University of Maryland School of Medicine
By Jessica Albert
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BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Doctors at the University of Maryland School of Medicine performed its second groundbreaking transplant of a genetically modified pig heart.
The transplant was given to a man from Frederick who had been rejected from all other transplant centers because of pre-existing conditions.
We are told the patient is breathing on his own and his new heart is working without any assistance.
This is a huge success for the medical team at the University of Maryland School of Medicine after their first patient to receive this type of transplant died just two months after the surgery.
Lawrence Faucette, 58, from Frederick, is the patient of the historic experimental surgery.
He spoke from his hospital bed before the surgery last week.
“I have been rejected by every human institute on the east coast. We are now down to my only real hope,” Faucette said.
Faucette is a married father of two who served 20 years in the U.S. Navy.
Faucette has terminal heart disease and cannot receive a human heart.
University of Maryland School of Medicine doctors implanted a genetically modified pig heart in Faucette on Sept. 20.
So far, Faucette is doing well.
This is only the second time the medical team performed this surgery.
The last time was in January of 2022. The heart was given to 57-year-old David Bennett.
However, Bennett died two months later.
Doctors are hopeful Faucette’s surgery will be more successful.
“We were very appreciative that he accepted our offer for the experimental transplant in the hopes of it helping him but also this is a field that is just beginning and there is so much more than needs to be learned,” said Dr. Bartley Griffith, from the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
Faucette said that he is hoping he’ll get stronger and can leave the hospital so he can spend more time with his loved ones.
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