PIG IN THE MIDDLE

Patient’s Mother Expresses Concern About Animal Kidney Transplant.
4th May 2005

	Sally Wheeler shares her fears with GFN
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Mother Sally Wheeler has spoken exclusively to GFN today, expressing her worry and anxiety over the health of her teenage son Ryan, who has become one of the first people ever to be offered xenotransplantation, an animal to human transplant.

16 year old Ryan was diagnosed with kidney failure 3 months ago and has since been on dialysis. Ryan, a talented footballer, is an ideal candidate for the transplant because of his age and fitness. He must now decide whether he wants to go ahead with the treatment or to remain on dialysis until a human kidney becomes available. However, this could mean a wait of up to five years, due to the shortage of kidney donors.

“I’m just so worried about Ryan,” said Sally, “I care about him more than anything- it’s just so scary that a decision that he makes at 16 years old could affect the whole of his life. Of course I want him to be well and be able to lead a normal life again but what if a virus was passed to him from the pig. Dr. Mayhew says that there is minimal chance of happening but they can’t be sure, can they?”

Sally also criticized both Dr. Mayhew, who would carry out Ryan’s transplant and also Ryan’s friend, Gemma Lewis, an animal rights protester, of trying to influence Ryan’s decision. “I think that if enough of Dr. Mayhew’s patients agree to this treatment it will help her career and as for Gemma, she is trying to influence Ryan’s decision when she hasn’t even been offered a transplant herself, due to her diabetes.”

When questioned about the ethics of the treatment she answered, “I’m concerned about animal rights myself and, of course, I wouldn’t want animals to be hurt but my son is the most important thing in the world to me and he must make the decision that is right for him whatever that may be.”

Indeed, there has recently been a huge debate between scientists and animal rights protesters over the ethics and safety of such treatment and Gemma Lewis is to organize a protest against xenotransplants, set to take place next week at Unsworth Hospital. Gemma told us, “there are loads of people coming. Everyone should know what goes on down at “Kidney Farm”. It takes at least twenty pigs to produce only two kidneys for transplant. It’s just not an acceptable choice.”