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Cranberry Township Girl Undergoes Eye Procedure In China

Posted: 11:22 pm EDT August 18, 2008Updated: 1:15 am EDT August 19, 2008

Lexi Smith loves to swim and tap dance.

When she grows up, she hopes to become a registered nurse.

Unlike most children her age, Lexi's eye sight is limited.

When she was 2 months old, doctors told her parents she would never be able to see.

"Before I only saw light. Now I can see a spot on the wall and I can see a spot on the wall and tell where it's coming from," said Smith.

Lexi was born with a condition called optic nerve hypoplasia which causes blindness in children.

Earlier this year with some $40,000 raised by the community, the Smith family spent 25 days in China so Lexi could receive a series of umbilical cord stem cell infusions.

It's a procedure not performed in the United States.

Heather Smith hopes that one day it will help her daughter to see.

"She pushes her sister around on a little school bus and before she would run into all the walls for some reason I don't know if she's seeing the walls now but she's not hitting the walls," said Smith.

Lexi is only one of 16 children ever to be treated for this condition.

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