MOUNTAIN HOME, Ark.—An Arkansas teenager starts school Monday, hoping a trip to China for treatment of an eye disease will help him see the world for the first time.

Josh Moore, 17, a senior at Mountain Home High School, has septo-optic displaysia, an underdevelopment of the optic nerve. He was born blind.

“We hope to see some improvement,” says Moore’s mother, Melissa Kasinger. “We’ll know if he has any sensitivity to light.”

Community donations of about $45,000 funded the family’s trip to Qingdao, China. There, the teenager received umbilical cord, stem-cell treatment at Chengyang People’s Hospital by Beike Biotech. The treatment is not approved in the United State’s for Josh’s condition.

Moore received two intravenous injections and four spinal injections of stem cells obtained from the umbilical cords of healthy babies.

Another local girl, Kacie Sallee, 9, received the same treatment in China this summer and noticed eyesight improvement within the first week of injections. Kacie’s family reported last month she now can see shapes on flashcards about 8 inches away from her face.

Moore hasn’t shown any improvement yet, but the family was told not to expect any improvement for three to six months, Kasinger says.

She plans to take Moore to his eye doctor in about three months. If Moore shows improvement, the family will consider going back overseas for more treatment.

Moore’s family says they are grateful for the community support.

“We would not have got there that quick,” Kasinger says. “People have been awesome.”

Now Moore is looking forward to starting his senior year.

He will continue to play the tuba in marching band and hopes to have an internship at a local radio station.

After graduation, Moore plans to attend Arkansas State University at Mountain Home and then continue his studies at the Jonesboro campus to pursue a career in broadcasting.