A 4-year-old girl from Samoa could barely walk about three months ago.  But now, an innovative surgery at Shriners Hospitals for Children has her back on her feet.

Grace Misipati took big steps toward full recovery, but it wasn't easy.  It took two teams of doctors to make this happen.

During an outreach clinic to Samoa, doctors found that a benign tumor was causing Misipati's right leg to curve.  Doctors knew that she had to come to Honolulu to receive proper medical attention.

"The chances of her being untreated and continuing to walk into adulthood I think are very hard to imagine without treatment," said Dr. Arabella Leet.

X-rays show her curved leg before surgery.  Her leg was straightened after five hours of surgery.

"She never dreamed that there was a procedure like this.  She though her daughter was a normal child and it was just a regular bump on her leg," said Leet.

Now, Misipati is tumor-free and she has already visited the zoo and Pearl Harbor.

Grace and her mother will return to Samoa at the end of the week and she should be completely healed in a couple of months.