Brave Cassidy Hooper, 17, is excitedly preparing for complicated surgery at the end of the month which will hopefully attach a nose to her face.
Born with no eyes and no nose, the teen from Charlotte, North Carolina, will undergo an operation on July 31st to have a bone removed from her rib cage and attached to her forehead - forming a bridge for her new nose.
Having already gone through preparatory surgery in June that has left her with a flap of skin where her nose will be, the high-school senior is even looking forward to starting her first job at the Library for the Blind in Raleigh and taking her own solo commute.
It has taken six years for doctors to get the stage where they can be in a position to create a nose for Cassidy - a process they described as laying foundations for a house.
The operation in June moved Cassidy's eyes closer together while taking a section of her forehead bone, folding it down and also pulling enough skin downwards to create enough necessary for the bone to be implanted and create a nose at the end of the month.
Telling WBTV that the surgery has left her in some pain, a bandage-covered Cassidy said that she was looking forward to her years of surgery coming to an end.
'I was actually thinking of what the reaction of everyone would be when that last surgery finished,' she said. 'And I think everyone's going to be so excited.'
And the good news has left the energetic teen ecstatic because for the first time she will be able to smell and breathe through her own nose
When she was born, her condition left doctors baffled, especially since had no other medical problems and leads a healthy life.
'Her heart and brain are normal,' said her mother, kindergarten teacher, Susan Hooper to ABC News.
'Nothing else is going on with her.'
The inspirational teenager has been going through skin graft surgeries to adapt her face since she was 11 years old and is pleased to be entering the final straight.
'I'll have a real nose like everyone else's,' said Cassidy of her July surgery.
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