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As children across the world look forward to opening their presents, young Izabelle Evans has already received a precious gift – her sight.

Izabelle, four, had been blind since birth but she can now see thanks to ground-breaking stem cell treatment in China.

Parents James Evans and Hollie McHugh say they will never forget the way they felt when their daughter saw them for the first time and said “Mummy and Daddy”.

Izabelle can now see things 3ft away after the treatment that cost the family £50,000.

Hollie, 24, said: “The results were better than we could ever have dreamed of.

“If you walk past she can see you and say ‘hiya’. It is amazing because doctors here said she couldn’t see anything at all before we went.”

Hollie added: “Because she hasn’t used her eyes before we have to remind her to use them.

“She went back to school and they have seen a difference too.

“She picks things up and holds them close to her face.

“A couple of days after we got back I put the Christmas tree up and she reached out to grab for the lights. Last year she wasn’t even aware we had a Christmas tree. It’s just incredible. I can’t wait for her to open her presents and experience it all for herself.”

Izabelle was born with septo-optic dysplasia – a condition that affects five in one million babies.

It means she only has a few hundred optic nerves sending information to her brain. A person needs millions to be able to see.

Her family heard about the stem cell treatment which involves injecting the spinal canal with cells taken from umbilical cords of healthy babies. The cells are then used to rebuild optic nerves.

These controversial procedures are not available in the UK and are only done in a few places around the world.

So Izabelle’s parents raised the money needed to treat her in China and hoped the ops would help her see and improve the other problems that her condition causes. Hollie said: “We’ve seen lots of changes. Her speech has improved a lot. Before she went she could only say one or two words but now we can have a little conversation with her.

“Her walking has improved and she can now support her own weight on her legs.”

The month-long stay at a hospital in the Chinese city of Tsingtao was tough. Izabelle had to endure gruelling treatment – including physiotherapy – for five days a week and frequently became upset.

But her family, of Hayling Island, Hants, are delighted with the results.

Professor Chris Mason, of the UK Stem Cell Foundation, said yesterday the treatments were still experimental and it would be at least 12 years before approved therapies would be available. He added: “However it does promise to give us a fantastic new tool to cure many diseases.”

Izabelle’s dad, 24, said: “We’re going to wait six months, because the stem cells continue to work for six months if she stays healthy.

“We’re going to keep an eye on her, see how her vision is, and then decide if we’ll go back to China to see if we can improve even more.”

They thought it would take 10 years to raise the £50,000 but they did it in 12 months.

Hollie said: “We’ve been overwhelmed by the help we’ve had.

“Donations came flooding through the post. A 70-year-old man did a sky dive to raise cash and a four-year-old girl gave up her pocket money. We’re very lucky to have had so much support.”

She said they were “over the moon” about Izabelle’s amazing improvement and added: “It is better than anything we expected. We are so grateful for everyone’s help.”