Transplant Baby Back Home

It's been months since Alice has slept in her own bedroom, but the eight-month-old Temuka baby can now enjoy life out of hospital after being discharged this week.

Alice Johnston underwent liver transplant surgery in October, in which her dad Mike Johnston donated part of his liver. Since then, she has been recovering at Ronald McDonald House in Auckland and has spent most days checking in at Starship Children's Hospital.

On Tuesday Alice was allowed to return home. Mum Kate Manson said yesterday they were settling into their new routine.

"Alice slept right through the night, she was so settled in her cot. Because of the generosity of South Canterbury people, we don't have to worry about our finances and can just be a family for a while."

From now, Alice will need to go to Timaru Hospital twice a week for blood tests and will have to fly to Auckland every fortnight to check in at the outpatient's clinic.

She is on four different medicines a day, one of which lowers her immune system.

To keep Alice safe and healthy, shoes can't be worn into the house, everything has to be sterilised, and hand sanitiser is always carried around, Miss Manson said.

It was also important that strangers did not come too close to Alice in case they passed on germs.

Apart from the precautions, she was just like any other baby and was almost sitting up, Miss Manson said.

"I can leave her sitting up on her own for about 30 seconds before she kind of wobbles over."

Meanwhile, Mr Johnston was slowly recovering from his operation.

"He's still a bit sore. When he sneezes he gets the odd pain, but this is normal. Some people have no pain and some have a lot of pain. But, like he says, it's a small price to pay," Miss Manson said.

The family wanted to urge people to consider being an organ donor and to talk to their family about their decision as well.

By Katarina Filipe - The Timaru Herald

Photo by Natasha Martin