This story was originally published in our Jan/Feb 2023 issue. Click here to subscribe to read more stories like this one.
Desperately ill and seeking a miracle, David Bennett Sr. took a last-ditch gamble on Jan. 7, when he became the first human to be successfully transplanted with the heart of a pig. “It creates the pulse, it creates the pressure, it is his heart,” declared Bartley Griffith, director of the surgical team that performed the operation at the University of Maryland Medical Center. “We are thrilled, but we don’t know what tomorrow will bring us.”