'Miracle' surgeries restore toddler's hearing, eyesight

When Diana Periera’s daughter Nicolly was born deaf and with glaucoma, a condition most common in older adults, she didn’t know if the little girl would ever see her or hear her voice. After seven failed surgeries in their home country of Brazil, 2-year-old Nicolly can now see and hear— thanks to successful procedures carried out in Miami, Florida, WSVN.com reported.

Pereira, 26, raised $20,000 for the corrective surgeries through Facebook and the International Kid’s Fund, an organization that helps provide funding for life-changing medical care to children in need. Nicolly needed the operations, as she was one among an estimated 25,000 babies born with pediatric glaucoma, a group of eye diseases that damage the optic nerve and lead to vision loss and blindness.

"She was blind, and now she sees," Dr. Alana Grajewski, of the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute’s pediatric center, told WSVN. "She could not see light at all in one eye, and she could barely see light in the other eye."

Periera said there’s only one word to describe how she feels about her daughter’s transformation: “God.”

“My daughter is free now,” she told the Miami Herald. “She now shines more than before. She has now become a reference for people who didn’t believe in miracles.”