When Shannon Kline first learned she had polycystic kidney disease six years ago, she knew the diagnosis might one day lead to a kidney transplant. PKD runs deep in her family. Both her grandfather and mother received kidney transplants at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and her physicians had always monitored her kidney function closely. Still, the 44‑year‑old elementary school teacher thought the need for surgery was far in the future.

When kidney transplant patients at the UAB Comprehensive Transplant Institute celebrate their first year after transplant, they ring a bell. The bright tone of the “Bell of New Beginnings” resonates throughout the clinic, marking the first anniversary of a journey toward a new chance at life.

On September 30, 2021, a University of Alabama at Birmingham medical team transplanted two pig kidneys into a brain-dead human recipient, a major step toward future pig-kidney transplants to people with kidney failure.