Alice celebrates living a rocky first year

Temuka's Alice Johnston, New Zealand's youngest live liver transplant recipient, will celebrate her first birthday today.

Mum Kate Manson said Alice had improved in "leaps and bounds" since the family returned home from Auckland seven weeks ago.

Alice was born with biliary atresia, a condition in which her bile duct was not formed. This led her to receiving a piece of her dad Mike's liver when she was just four months old.

"When she is dressed Alice looks like every other one-year-old," Miss Manson said.

Alice still had a peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) line in her arm and an access tube in her stomach, but the family was hoping they would be removed during the next visit to Starship Hospital in a couple of weeks.

A birthday party was held for Alice on Saturday. Miss Manson said it was a time for family and friends to gather and celebrate that Alice made it through her rocky first year.

Alice also had two "very special" guests at her party, Ronald McDonald House staff Marise Nagime and Rua Walters, who made a special trip from Auckland to attend the party.

A toast was also made to the "amazing support" received from the South Canterbury community. "I constantly think of how lucky we were to get the support we did. I don't know how we would have made it otherwise. It still brings me warm fuzzies," Miss Manson said.

"We are so lucky that Alice's recovery post-transplant has been pretty good. The boy who had his transplant the week before Alice has barely had time out of hospital so I am aware things could be a lot worse."

She said the family was enjoying being home and doing "normal" things.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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