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greetings
alexander sokolov here today i will tell
you the sad story
which became a landmark in the
development of such a field of medicine
as human organ transplantation
in 1984 a terminal patient was brought
to the medical center
of loma linda california
this was the newborn stephanie via
buckler the little girl
had the hypoplastic left heart syndrome
which means the left side of her heart
was severely underdeveloped
children with this condition typically
do not survive the first
two weeks of their lives the parents
were facing the choice
of having their child die at the
hospital or at home
only heart transplant could save the
child
such surgeries were already being
performed in 1984
but it was practically impossible to
find a donor for newborn
in addition fae's mother did not have
medical insurance
and the heart transplant procedure even
if a donor was found
would have cost two hundred and fifty
thousand dollars
because of all of this the pediatric
surgeon
leonard bailey had suggested a last
measure solution for seven years
he had been researching the possibility
of xenotransplantation
in other words the possibility of
transplanting animal organs into human
patients
he had conducted over 160 animal
procedures
for example transplanting a sheep's
heart into a goat
none of his animal patients had lived
for longer than six months
nonetheless bayley did not lose hope
he discussed faye's situation with her
parents at length
and was able to obtain their consent as
a result they agreed to the procedure
all that remained was to find a donor
one had to be chosen
from the six young baboons available to
the llama linda center
the animal first of all had to be of the
right size for the little girl
who weighed only 2 kilos and 200 grams
in addition there was a second serious
consideration
the child had a rare blood type hard to
find among baboons
something like less than one percent
probability
none of these baboons had the matching
blood type
there was no way to avoid serious
complications related to the rejection
of the donor organ
it would have occurred regardless but
considering the blood type
incompatibility
it would have been much more serious
nonetheless the doctors conducted a
series of tests
they would take the blood and tissue
samples from the little girl
and would test their potential
compatibility on the baboons
to see which animal would have the least
rejection reaction
they were able to find a nine-month-old
female baboon
nicknamed goobers which was chosen as
the donor
as a side detail when later during a
radio interview
a journalist asked bayley why he did not
use a chimp as a donor because
evolutionary speaking
chimps are much more closely related to
humans
bayley had responded that he did not
believe in evolution
in his scientific journal publications
regarding the matter
bayley had phrased his responses more
cautiously
yes gems are more closely related to
humans
he used the term homologist however
there was no chimp donor available at
the time of the procedure
as an aside bailey himself was a
seventh-day adventist
on october 26 1984
the little girl's condition began
deteriorating
she was roughly 12 days old
the hospital team began preparing for
the procedure
the girl's heart was removed and
replaced was a baboon one
at 11 35 that new heart began beating on
its own
the surgical team worked at its limit
the immunologist who had taken part in
the procedure
recalled that people were crying in the
surgery room
the university maintained the real name
and the age of the patient
in confidence however the information
was leaked to the press
and the procedure became a sensation
fire was talked about and featured on
national television
hundreds of people sent her cards
flowers money
good wishes others were outraged by the
moral
aspects of such a procedure
were the doctors able to perform a
miracle
during the first few days the child's
condition began improving
she was taken off ivl and began eating
on her own
bailey was giving interviews in which
she expressed the hope
that in three months the child would be
able to go home
that she will survive her first birthday
and possibly
even her 20th one he hoped
that soon baboon organ transplants would
become
more commonplace than human ones
other doctors muse that soon possibly
special donor baboon farms would appear
there was a certain level of euphoria
from the potential medical advancements
unfortunately premature one in two weeks
faye started showing the first signs of
transplant rejection
the child began growing weaker her
condition worsened
the doctors were forced to administer
large doses of immunosuppressors
as the result the child's kidneys failed
on day 21 despite all the efforts of the
doctors
faye passed away altogether after the
procedure
faye had lived for 21 days that's two
weeks longer than any human
with an animal heart transplant but this
was of little consolation
once the first shock had passed outraged
questions were voiced
the most outcry came from the animal
rights activists
who marched around the hospital with
posters in hand
they claimed that there were two victims
in this horrific experiment
a little girl and an innocent little
baboon
which had died needlessly
others wanted to know how the doctor was
able to obtain the parent's consent
did he accurately explain to them the
risks as well as the fact that
no human had ever survived such a
procedure before
and that was true starting in 1905 there
had been 33 attempts to transplant
baboon organs
to human patient and all 33 had ended in
failure
did the doctor himself adequately
understand all the risks
did he have any hope of success
or had he simply experimented at the
child's expense
that became a legal question was the
procedure therapeutic
or merely experimental in nature bailly
himself explained the failure
to be the result of the blood type
incompatibility
he stated that he did everything within
his power to save the child
if there had been a human donor located
during the 20 days
prior to the transplant and the search
went on during that entire period
fire would have been saved in that sense
20 days is a reasonable amount of time
he insisted that
xenotransplantation potential requires
further in-depth research
that the field has great potential
however he himself never again conducted
such experiments
this tragic story served to attract
public attention to the problem of
transplant organ availability for
children
at his university leonard bailey had
developed a very effective pediatric
cardio transplantation program
involving transplantation of human
hearts
his first successful surgery took place
in 1985
followed by hundreds of successful
procedures today
some of bailey's patients have grown
children of their own
this does not make the story of
littlefield any less tragic
i must add that today in 2020
xenotransplantation or transplantation
of animal organs
to humans remains at its experimental
stage
there remains the hope that in the near
future specialists will be able to
achieve success
and save the lives of children in
similar situations
i would like to thank the simion
stepanovic
city regional library of peter golf for
the use of their facilities
i thank the sai team recording crew
presenting to you
was alexander sokolov and may the force
of true science
remain with you
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you