Liver Transplant Recipient Goes Home From Hospital

An elated Lori House, the woman who received a liver that was donated to her from a slain Highland Park 12-year-old boy, returned home Thursday from the hospital.

House, 36, was discharged from Loma Linda University Medical Center after undergoing treatment there for two months.

Suffering from hepatitis C and about to be taken off the organ donors list, which almost meant a certain death, she received the liver from the body of Steven Morales last week. Steven was the innocent victim in an apparently gang-related drive-by shooting.

House, expressing her gratitude to the Morales family, who made the decision to have Steven’s vital organs donated, said she wants to see them soon. “I wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for them,” House said from her home in Moreno Valley.

House, who will require regular treatments for the rest of her life, said she hopes to create greater awareness about the benefits of organ donations and the maladies of hepatitis C.

Organ donations can help families and friends deal with the death of a loved one, she said. Having an organ alive in the body of a transplant recipient will help to alleviate the pain of their loss, she said.

And with organ donations, House said, “People will come closer together. The Morales are part of my family. I even put my sons’ and daughters’ pictures next to Steven’s picture.”