Today's Show Transcript
COY WIRE, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Hello, sunshine, I'm Coy 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, Edan 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 despondency 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.
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EINAV ZANGAUKER, SON HELD HOSTAGE BY HAMAS: Mr. President, sir, all of the Israeli people are behind you. End this war. Bring them all home.
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WIRE: After several days of talks between Hamas and the U.S., the militant group announced it agreed to free Alexander, all in an effort to reach a ceasefire with Israel.
Ten-second 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 end-stage 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 wait 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 him.
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.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Thanks for having me.
WIRE: Talking xenotransplantation, using animal organs for human transplant.
GUPTA: I mean, this is the best job in the world, right, being a journalist, because you see things that nobody else gets to see. 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, Coy. 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.
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DR. LEONARDO RIELLA, MEDICAL DIRECTOR OF KIDNEY TRANSPLANTATION, MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL: We are, of course, being just extra careful and cautious and ensuring things are in the right direction.
TIM ANDREWS, ONLY LIVING PERSON IN THE WORLD WITH XENOTRANSPLANT: And the little pig is right there, so I can pat it.
GUPTA (voice-over): But today's visit is all about this moment.
(On camera): Observing this ultrasound, that is an ultrasound of a pig kidney inside Tim, something that very few people ever get to see.
RIELLA: And it looks exactly like a human kidney, so -- and we will see all the blood flow throughout. So --
GUPTA: Is there anything in there that makes it clear that it's a pig kidney?
RIELLA: No, exactly like a human one.
GUPTA (voice-over): And not only does it look like one. Eight weeks postoperatively, it's acting like one.
RIELLA: 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 work.
GUPTA (on camera): That's awesome.
ANDREWS: Good stuff, isn't it?
(LAUGHTER)
WIRE: Very cool. Now, tell me this. Why pigs and not other animals?
GUPTA: 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, 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 three months, three weeks, three days. It's a good little tidbit. 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 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 a pretty good candidate.
WIRE: That's fascinating. Now, what does genetically edited mean and how do they do it?
GUPTA: Yeah, this is -- this is a really important question. First of all, OK, 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 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 is 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 CRISPR. It's a Nobel prize winning technology, but that makes pigs more compatible with humans.
WIRE: 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 into 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?
GUPTA: And I have kids that are in that time period of their lives as well. I would say two things. First of all, it's going to be OK. I know sometimes that's hard to appreciate in the moment, but it's going to be OK. Take it from guys like us.
But second of all, do something that scares you every day, gets 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.
WIRE: 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.
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USHER, R&B MUSICIAN: 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.
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WIRE: Today's story, getting a 10 out of 10, goes to a bystander's CPR skills that saved a teen's life. Fifteen-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.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You hear someone scream, is there a nurse out here?
JOHNETTE WILMOT: Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are you?
WILMOT: I'm a project manager.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're not a nurse.
WILMOT: I'm not a nurse.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But you did know CPR.
WILMOT: I did.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where did you learn that?
WILMOT: I learned CPR in high school when I was 17, and I've never had to use it in 40 years.
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WIRE: Johnette Wilmot 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 learn today just might help us change someone's life in the future.
All right, we want to give a big congrats to Ms. Bauer at St. Margaret Mary Catholic School in Slidell, 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. I'll see you right back here tomorrow on CNN 10.
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