MOUNTAIN HOME, Ark.—When 9-year-old Kacie Sallee saw her father’s face more clearly for the first time in her life, she had a question.

“She said, ’Is that what he looks like?”’ said her mother, Marinda Sallee.

Kacie, who is blind, returned last week from China, where she received umbilical-cord stem cell treatment in hopes of improving her eyesight. The nearly four-week trip and medical treatment was paid through $60,000 in local donations.

Kacie was born with septo-optic dysplasia, an underdevelopment of the optic nerve and pituitary gland. She could see bright colors out of her right eye but only light and dark out of her left eye.

During treatment overseas, her family started noticing improvements. Kacie looked at a photograph of her father, Stephen Sallee, on the computer, and saw his eyes and mouth were more defined, Marinda Sallee said.

“Before, she would look at a face and say it had spots on it,” she said. “It’s little things, but for us, it’s huge.”

Now, Kacie is starting to see bright colors out of her left eye, which she could never detect before, Sallee said. She also can count fingers when they are held about four inches away from her face, she said.

Her family also is noticing a difference in the way Kacie uses her eyes. Before, she looked down most of the time, but now, she looks up and appears to watch more, Sallee said. At a local park Wednesday, Kacie seemed to watch her brother swing, her head moving back and forth.

Kacie, her mother and grandmother stayed at Chengyang People’s Hospital in Qingdao, China.

Kacie received four spinal and one intravenous umbilical stem cell transfusion by Beike Biotech.

The stem cells were obtained from umbilical cords of healthy babies and were not embryonic stem cells from a human embryo.

Umbilical stem-cell treatment is not approved in the United States for her condition, experts have said.

The Sallees chronicled their journey on a blog, which they updated nearly every day.

Kacie stayed in the hospital the day of her treatment and also the next day, because her back and head would hurt, Marinda said. After that, they explored area restaurants and markets.

Kacie bought dolls, which she named after her favorite translators — April, Wendy and Amanda, she said. She also bought a jade bracelet and a tea set. The family learned to bargain for items with vendors by using a calculator, her mother said.

While in China, Kacie also looked forward to eating shrimp sandwiches at KFC, a menu item not offered locally, she said.

“I just wish I could see a picture of a shrimp sandwich at KFC,” Kacie said, describing in detail how the sandwich was made.

The Sallees are grateful they could make the trip, Marinda Sallee said, adding the stem cells Kacie received will grow for one year. Oxygen treatment may help if they stop noticing improvements, she said. If Kacie keeps improving, they may consider going back to China for more treatments, she said.

While Kacie’s eyesight improvements may be slow, Marinda Sallee plans to post any news on Kacie’s Web site at www.kacieshope4vision.com. Their China journey can be read at http://stemcellschina.com/blog/kacie.

“There may be weeks you will not have change, and then you notice something different,” Marinda Sallee said. “We can’t wait to see what tomorrow’s is.”