Hello sunshine. I'm Koi Wire. Welcome to
CNN 10. It's Wednesday, May 14th and we
have made it halfway through the week
and that means it's your word Wednesday.
So listen closely to see if your word
helped us write today's show. We've got
10 minutes of news, brain boosting news
for you and a bit of fun as well. Let's
cook. We begin today with the release of
the last American hostage known to be
alive in Gaza. 21-year-old New Jersey
native Edon Alexander was handed over to
the Red Cross by Hamas before crossing
into Israel after being held in
captivity for one and a half years.
He was soon reunited with his family.
You can only imagine the dispondency
they must have felt while he was away.
Alexander was serving in the Israeli
military near the Gaza border when Hamas
militants launched a surprise attack on
Israel on October 7, 2023, sparking the
current war in Gaza. More than 250
people were taken hostage that day,
including Alexander. There are at least
20 hostages still being held in Gaza who
are believed to be alive. Mr. President,
sir, all of the Israeli people are
behind you. End this war. bring them all
home. After several days of talks
between Hamas and the US, the militant
group announced it agreed to free
Alexander, all in an effort to reach a
ceasefire with
Israel. 10sec trivia. What is the most
needed and most commonly transplanted
organ worldwide? Kidney, heart, lungs,
or
liver? Contestants committed to kidney.
Correct. The organs responsible for
filtering waste and water from our blood
are the most needed and most commonly
transplanted organ. People suffering
from chronic kidney disease or endstage
renal disease can be candidates for a
kidney transplant. Now to some recent
advancements in medicine that sound like
science fiction, but they are very real.
Animal farm. The latest doc by our doc
Dr. Sanjay Gupta explores
xenotransplantation. The practice of
using animal organs for human
transplant. More than 100,000 people are
on the transplant weight list and
experts say this could transform modern
medicine. Who better to talk to than our
Dr. Sanjay Gupta and I know where we can
find them. Field trip. All right.
Welcome to CNN Studio H here in Atlanta.
We're here to meet up with Dr. Sanjay
Gupta. Good to see you, Doc. Thanks for
having me. Talking
xenotransplantation using animal organs
for human transplant. I mean, this is
the best job in the world, right? Being
a journalist because you see things that
nobody else gets to see. Uh what you're
looking at here actually is some of the
technology to actually edit these pigs,
genetically edit these pigs to make them
compatible. These are the pigs going
these are the pigs that have been
modified and made compatible for humans.
I got to meet Tim Andrews. He's the only
living person in the world with a
xenotransplant, an animal organ in his
body. Take a look.
We're of course being just extra careful
and cautious and ensuring things are in
the right direction. And the little pig
is right there so I can pat it. But
today's visit is all about this moment
observing this ultrasound. That is an
ultrasound of a pig kidney inside Tim.
Something that very few people ever get
to see. And it looks exactly like a
human kidney. So, and we see all the
blood flow throughout. So, is there
anything in there that makes it clear
that it's a pig kidney? No. exactly like
a human one. And not only does it look
like one, 8 weeks postoperatively, it's
acting like one. The level of kidney
function is as good as we would expect
from a human kidney transplant. We just
are amazed every day we look at that
blood glow work.
Yeah, that's awesome. Good stuff, isn't
it?
Very cool. Now, tell me this. Why pigs
and not other animals? Yeah. So, this is
really interesting. Some of it's just
really practical. Pigs are about the
same size as humans. Bigger pig for you
than me, but still around that size. And
so their organs are going to be very
similar to human organs. The kidney, the
heart, whatever it might be. Second
thing is, you know, pigs, their
pregnancy lasts about 3 months, 3 weeks,
3 days. It's good little tidbit. Pretty
pretty standard. So fast pregnancy. They
make a lot of piglets. So you can
potentially get a lot of organs. And
then as I just mentioned, they can be
modified genetically to actually make
them more compatible with humans.
Finally, I'll I'll tell you an
interesting thing is that they're not as
evolutionarily similar to humans. And
you might think that's a bad thing, but
actually it's a good thing when it comes
to transplant because they're less
likely to have viruses that can then go
to humans as well. So for all those
reasons, pigs are pretty good
candidates. That's fascinating. Now,
what does genetically edited mean and
how do they do it? Yeah, this is this is
a really important question. First of
all, okay, so let me just show you this.
Pig genome, which is basically your
blueprint, human genome, they're
actually not that different. That's the
first thing to sort of keep in mind. So
for for humans, you have
basically these various base pairs and
you look at this, you get that over and
over again. That is your genetic
blueprint. Yours, mine can be pretty
similar. Pigs are slightly different and
they might have one particular gene over
here like this one which is something
that if you put that into a human the
human would instantly reject it. So with
editing what you can do you can get rid
of things like this and you can also
take human genes and actually transport
them over to the pig to make them more
compatible. So what I've just described
there is something known as crisper.
It's a Nobel Prize-winning technology,
but that makes pigs more compatible with
humans. That is incredible stuff. Thank
you for taking a very complex and
evolving subject and breaking it all
down for us as only you can do. Be sure
to tune in to Doc's full report, Dr.
Sanjay Gupta's Animal Farm, airing
Sunday night at 8 Eastern, only on CNN.
Now, another thing you can do is help
inspire us with graduation just around
the corner. Doc, I know you've given a
lot of commencement speeches in your
day. Harvard, Baylor, even at your alma
mater, University of Michigan. What's
one bit of advice that you have for all
our seniors out there who are getting
ready to walk that graduation stage? And
I and I have uh kids that are in that
time period of their lives as well. Um I
would say two things. First of all, it's
going to be okay. I know sometimes
that's hard to appreciate in the moment,
but it's going to be okay. Take it from
guys like us. But second of all, do
something that scares you every day. Get
you outside of your comfort zone.
that'll make you more willing to try new
things and this is the time in your life
to try and do that. I love that and he
practices what he preaches so I know it
to be true. Now for those of you who
don't know Doc is a graduate of the
University of Michigan and in addition
to being our chief medical correspondent
he's also currently a practicing brain
surgeon at Emory University and Emory
just had their graduation ceremony for
the class of 2025. They ushered in a
very special commencement speaker Usher.
The eight-time Grammy-winning singer
songwriter delivered a moving speech
encouraging grads to dream big, work
hard, and do what they love. He also
reminded them in this day and age of
social media that life's about a lot
more than following others.
Listen, this world doesn't need more
followers. It needs fearless architects
of our future. And that's exactly who
you are. Be a dreamer. Never stop
imagining. Be
better. Fight for a better life. fight
for a better world. The goal is beyond
our reach, but we can reach as long as
we
try. And furthermore, we will succeed
because we
do. Today's story getting a 10 out of 10
goes to a bystander CPR skills that
saved a teen's life. 15-year-old Evan
Tucker was out on the baseball field
playing his favorite sport when the
unthinkable happened. He collapsed. his
heart no longer beating in a moment of
cardiac arrest. That's when a stranger
in the stands ran into the field and
started CPR. You hear someone scream,
"Is there a nurse out here?" Yeah. What?
What are you? I'm a project manager.
You're not a nurse? I'm not a nurse. But
you did know CPR. I did. Uh where did
you learn that? I learned CPR in high
school when I was 17 and I've never had
to use it
in 40 years. Janette Wilmet says she
kept the CPR maneuver going for about
eight minutes until an ambulance arrived
and it likely saved his life. Evan made
it to the hospital. His health is
improving and as he began his long road
to recovery, he got to meet the woman
who saved him. It's a valuable reminder
that what we learned today just might
help us change someone's life in the
future. All right, we want to give a big
congrats to Miss Bower at St. Margaret
Mary Catholic School in Slideel,
Louisiana for submitting our word of the
day. Despondency, a noun meaning a state
of low spirits caused by loss of hope or
courage. Well done. Thank you for making
us smarter today. And our shout out
today, a good one. Going to pace program
at Midland Care Connection in Lawrence,
Kansas. We appreciate you tuning in
every day and proving it's important to
stay informed. It's a lifelong practice.
Rise up. Thank you for all submitting
those shout out requests on our CNN 10
YouTube page and spending part of your
day with us. Have an awesome one. And
I'll see you right back here tomorrow on
CNN 10.