Cassidy was barely five when she received her cornea, but it had already been more than a year since she began to complain that everything looked “scribbly.” With the scribbly vision came problems with depth perception and maintaining balance.

An ulcer was boring a hole into Cassidy’s eye and taking her sight. As the ulcer festered, the hole grew and scarred over. Without intervention, Cassidy’s eye would go completely blind.

On a February morning in Spokane, Cassidy received the gift that put her young life back on keel. Immediately upon waking up from cornea transplant surgery, she told her parents that everything wasn’t scribbly any more. In the months that followed, her vision continued to improve. “I can see so much better!” she told her parents over and over, but they never failed to be thrilled at the words.

“We will never know the donor or the donor family, but they have given us the most beautiful gift,” says Cassidy’s mother, Dawn. “They have given us the ability to look forward to the future.”