Chimera; In Greek mythology, a fire-breathing female monster with a lion’s head, a goat’s body, and a serpent’s tail.

  I read this tidbit a few years ago.

  “Scientists at a Massachusetts company seeking to make pig organs safe enough to be transplanted into humans have used gene-editing technology to clone piglets that lack a potentially dangerous retrovirus  . . .   .  The breakthrough . . . according to the journal Science, could help pave the way for transplantation of whole pig organs into humans.”  August/2017

  Now this.

  “Surgeons at NYU Langone Health have transplanted a genetically engineered pig kidney that continued to function well after 32 days in a man declared dead by neurologic criteria and maintained with a beating heart on ventilator support. This represents the longest period that a gene-edited pig kidney has functioned in a human, and the latest step toward the advent of an alternate, sustainable supply of organs for transplant.”  August/2023

  So, what we have is science fiction/horror becoming reality.  My initial reaction to the pig substitute was creepiness.  Then I wondered about the jokes if I would undergo a pig transplant. “Hey Marv!  Don’t forget to bring home the bacon.”  Instead of a quick “Goodbye,” people are likely to shout, “Oinkers Away!” 

Yet, having available a non-human transplant resource – called Xenotransplantation (organs or tissues from an animal source into a human recipient) - might be a life saver.  After all, I am the recipient of two artificial hips.  So why not a pig’s kidney, a cow’s heart, or a chimp’s brain?    What’s the worst that people might say?

  “Man, what a chimera.”