The following is a transcript of a report by medical editor Marilyn Brooks that first aired Oct. 10, 2007, on WTAE Channel 4 Action News at 5 p.m.

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Every once in a while a child is born with certain birth differences such as missing fingers or toes, but surgical advances allow them to be corrected. Doctors at Allegheny General Hospital have given that gift to a 4-year-old girl.

Grace was born profoundly deaf and without a thumb on her right hand, so it was difficult for her to do a lot of things, including using sign language to communicate.

But thanks to a series of surgeries, that has changed.

When Grace was adopted from Korea two years ago, she could barely sign 50 words. She was born deaf, with a heart defect, a short arm and no right thumb.

"At the time, it really wasn't important to us," said her mother, Nancy Benham. "We thought this is a little girl that needs a home. She's deaf. That doesn't bother us. We just thought it was a perfect match."

Benham and her husband are fluent in sign language. She coordinates the parent-infant program at Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf.

"It would be easier to understand her if she had the ability to use both hands well," said Benham. "So, I think we were both a little excited about the potential, but we didn't know what it would mean."

It would mean three surgeries to first get Grace's hand centered over her arm and then give her a thumb.

"You take the index finger and separate it from the rest of the hand, and it gives you a thumb that looks pretty close to a normal thumb," said director of upper extremity surgery Dr. Mark Baratz.

Her new thumb let's Grace do all the things she could not do before.

"Her signing, her communication has dramatically improved," said Benham. "Really, her personality has really just blossomed, because I think she feels more confident."

"That arm is never going to be perfectly normal, but she's going to do a lot with it," said Baratz. "I can't wait to see how she grows up."

Baratz said that for some unknown reason, birth deficiencies like Grace's are very common in Asia, but so are the orthopedic surgeries to correct them.

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