![Consultant Surgeon Andrew Ready and his team conducts] a live donor kidney transplant at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham on June 9, 2006, in Birmingham, England.](https://radioimg.audacy.com/aiu-media/surgerydoc-3d0549e4-2994-4322-b5eb-dd52f5c33d84.jpg?width=800)
David Bennett Sr., who became the first person to receive a heart transplant from a genetically altered pig in January, died on Tuesday at the University of Maryland Medical Hospital, according to The New York Times.
The 57-year-old had been recovering from his Jan. 7 surgery, and his condition reportedly worsened in recent days, according to USA Today.
A hospital spokeswoman said that the cause of his death at this time is unknown.
"There was no obvious cause identified at the time of his death," the hospital spokeswoman said, per The New York Times.
David Bennett Jr. said in a statement that was released by the hospital that he is thankful for the efforts of the doctors who tried all they could to save his father.
"Their exhaustive efforts and energy, paired with my dad’s insatiable will to live, created a hopeful environment during an uphill climb," Bennett Jr. said. "We were able to spend some precious weeks together while he recovered from the transplant surgery, weeks we would not have had without this miraculous effort."
He added that he hopes his father's surgery will be able to help others that are in a desperate need for a transplant.
"We hope this story can be the beginning of hope and not the end," Bennett Jr. said. "We pray that those looking for hope will continue to fight for the future, fight for new ideas, fight for answers, fight for life. Fight like Dave."
Dr. Bartley Griffith, the surgeon who performed the historic transplant, also mentioned that Bennett's surgery could one day help the lives of others in need.
"He proved to be a brave and noble patient who fought all the way to the end," Dr. Griffith said. "Mr. Bennett became known by millions of people around the world for his courage and steadfast will to live."
Researchers at the hospital plan to review Bennett's death and then publish the results in a peer-reviewed journal.
Bennett had opted for the experimental surgery after he had been rejected from a number of waiting lists to receive a human heart transplant. He was previously on a heart-lung bypass machine from October 2021 until the surgery took place in January.
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