Marrow Recipient Takes a Step Toward Recovery : Leukemia: Anissa Ayala goes home from the hospital, but it could be a long time before doctors know whether she is cured.

Anissa Ayala, the 19-year-old leukemia patient who last month underwent a bone marrow transplant from her baby sister, went home from the hospital Friday evening to a cheerful gathering of relatives and close friends.

“I’ve missed a lot of people,” a teary-eyed Ayala told a group of about 30 people who surprised her with balloons and banners in front of her Walnut house. “I was in (the hospital) for a long time. Now I can finally get on with my life.”

But it will be some time before the teen-ager knows whether she is completely cured of her disease; recovery for transplant recipients is a long, drawn-out process involving months of tests, medication and a careful diet.

“Her recovery to date has been excellent,” Dr. Stephen J. Forman, a transplant specialist at City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, said in a prepared statement released Friday afternoon. “However, there are still several major clinical hurdles to overcome before any statement can be made concerning Ms. Ayala’s long-term prognosis.”

Seventy-two percent of the patients with Ayala’s type of cancer--chronic myelogenous leukemia--recover after marrow transplants, meaning that they survive more than two years. Patients who live that long have a 95% chance of being completely cured, doctors say.

The Ayalas captured worldwide attention last year after they decided to conceive a child--who was born last year--in the hopes that it would provide the bone marrow that could save Ayala’s life. The baby’s tissue matched Ayala’s perfectly, meaning that she could donate marrow. On June 4, doctors performed the transplant.

Mary Ayala said that while her daughter’s immune system is being replenished by her younger sister’s marrow, she must be kept in a sterile environment. She can have physical contact only with family members, and must wear a mask when she goes outside.

On Friday, the family was busy removing dusty stuffed animals from Ayala’s bedroom and washing all the windows.

“We’re just moving the hospital to our house,” Mary Ayala said.

Meanwhile, Ayala must wait a year before she can return to school at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut. She lost all of her hair from chemotherapy treatments before the transplant and is still receiving medication.

“She’s feeling good,” her mother said hours before Ayala was to be discharged. “She’s weak. She gets tired. But she’s starting to walk around.”