National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

An Alabama woman passed a major milestone over the weekend following groundbreaking surgery. Towana Looney is the longest living patient to receive a transplanted organ of a pig. In her case, a kidney. Her doctor in New York City says organ is absolutely normal. The FDA allows pig organ transplantation when patients are out of options.

Diabetes remains a major health problem in Alabama. The State’s Department of Public Health listed the ailment as the seventh-biggest cause of death here in 2019. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says one in five diabetes patients in the U.S. don’t know they have the disease. Denmark is working on its own rising caseload, and a possible solution. This story was made possible by a grant by the Caring Foundation.

The violence continues at a prison in south Alabama. APR’s Pat Duggins has more on the latest incident, and how it appears to be following a pattern.The…