17-year-old gets gift of sight from controversial treatment in China

It was nothing short of amazing. The thrill of shooting a basketball through the hoop at a West Side park was something Lawrence E. Brown III would not have dared to even dream of only a year ago. Lawrence, 17, was born blind. The El Paso High School senior has a condition called optic nerve hypoplasia -- an underdevelopment of the nerves in his eyes. In July, he and his family placed their faith in a controversial stem-cell treatment. The procedure is not available in this country and is met with skepticism by many U.S. doctors. No treatment exists for his condition, said Dr. Michael Repka, pediatric ophthalmologist at Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Baltimore.