Born with glaucoma MUM'S GIFT TO HER GIRL

Resourceful Maria has opened up the world for those struggling with their sight

- Ruth Jillings

By the time Annabelle Geisler was just four years old, she had I already had 30 eye surgeries.

Now seven, the young Christchurch girl is the rare one in 10,000 children in New Zealand born with glaucoma.

Typically, the eye condition, where the optic nerve connecting the eye to the brain is damaged, affects those over 60, but straight after birth, doctors noticed a difference in Annabelle.

"She was born with swollen eyes and they looked cloudy," remembers her mum Maria Ferenza.

Since those first moments, Annabelle has had to adjust to a world she sees differently than others.

But Maria is always in her daughter's corner, advocating for her, seeking out resources or creating them herself to improve Annabelle's life and the lives of others with special needs, low vision and blindness.

"If you feel your child needs something, push for it," shares Maria, 39, who is also mum to Sebastian, nine. "You have to fight for it. Nothing has come easily for my daughter. I always had to make it happen.

"Because of the uncertainty with Annabelle's sight, we decided to introduce her to Braille when she was five years old, but I couldn't find anything in New Zealand. Everything was from overseas and very expensive, or a bit of boring cardboard with some Braille letters. So, I got a 3D printer and started experimenting with making things. People were over the moon about the idea."