She set the record for living longest with a pig kidney. Then it failed.

Towana Looney (right) and her daughter visit New York City between medical appointments.

Towana Looney lived for more than four months with a kidney from a pig instead of her own damaged ones.

But in early April, her body ‒ which had tolerated the kidney longer than any human had ever survived with an animal organ ‒ suddenly rejected it. Doctors aren't yet sure why, but it happened after they reduced the medication Looney, from Gadsden, Alabama, was taking to tamp down her immune response to the pig kidney.

On April 4, 130 days after her transplant, the kidney was removed, according to a news release from NYU-Langone, which handled the transplant. Looney recovered quickly and was discharged home five days after the procedure.

“I’m so grateful to have been given the opportunity to be part of this incredible research," Looney said in the statement released by the hospital. "Though the outcome is not what anyone wanted, I know a lot was learned from my 130 days with a pig kidney ‒ and that this can help and inspire many others in their journey to overcome kidney disease."

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