Alabama woman doing well after gene-edited pig kidney transplant: "It's like a new beginning"

A 53-year-old Alabama woman is now free from years of dialysis after receiving a pig kidney transplant last month.

Towana Looney, who is recovering from the procedure, is the fifth American given a gene-edited pig organ — and notably, she isn't as sick as prior recipients who died within two months of receiving a pig kidney or heart.

"It's like a new beginning," Looney told The Associated Press. Right away, "the energy I had was amazing. To have a working kidney — and to feel it — is unbelievable."