The mother of a Northern Ireland toddler last night told of her joy after revolutionary stem cell treatment helped her daughter see for the first time.

Dakota Clarke, who turns three next month, was born with a rare brain condition called Septo-optic Dysplasia (SoD), which caused blindness and a number of other serious problems, including hormone deficiencies and low muscle tone.

But after recently undergoing a course of stem cell injections at a Chinese hospital, the brave little Newtownabbey girl can now — for the first time ever — see around two feet in front of her.

Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph last night, her delighted mother Wilma said that no words could convey how happy she is that her daughter has been given the gift of sight.

“It’s just like a child’s first tooth, first step and first word all rolled into one, maybe one hundred times over,” she said.

“I just can’t think of any other way to describe it. It’s fantastic. My husband Darren and I went to China in the mindframe that the stem cell treatment wasn’t going to work, so we’re so grateful that she can see something.”

Last March, our sister newspaper Sunday Life helped to launch the Clarke’s campaign to raise the £30,000 necessary for treatment — in a bid to help give Dakota some sight.

And after generous donations from concerned readers, Wilma and Darren finally flew out to Qingdao People’s Hospital in eastern China at the start of February.

Once there, Dakota began a course of six injections, each containing 10-15 million stem cells from the blood of umbilical cords, over a four-week period. But although results are generally not expected until months after the treatment, mother-of-two Wilma said they noticed a difference almost immediately.

“There are no guarantees that stem cell injections will restore sight,” she said.

“We were told we would have to wait nine months to see what happens, but we saw changes a week after the first injection. Then, we noticed, after the second injection, that she was able to focus if we held a finger out to her.

“We still don’t know just how much she can see because she can’t tell us, but everyone is amazed at how quickly and how well it appears to have worked in such a short space of time.”

She added: “The stem cell injections have also had a positive effect on Dakota’s stomach and constipation problems, so we’re on cloud nine. She’s not a baby anymore. She’s a proper little girl.”

Meanwhile, six-year-old Megan Traynor, from west Belfast, who was also born with Septo-optic Dysplasia, is currently undergoing treatment overseas for her condition.

Last April, the Belfast Telegraph first highlighted the plight of her parents Leanne (25) and Stuart (28), who needed to raise £30,000 to send their daughter to the Far East for the revolutionary injections.