When everyday eyeglasses wouldn’t work, Dr. Mohannad Al-Samarraie made it his mission to find ones that would.
Geneticists at three different hospitals have never seen another person with Selena Renn’s rare genetic condition – but it’s the 7-year-old’s old soul and empathy for others that truly make her one of a kind.
“She’s such a good human being all the way around,” said her grandmother and guardian, Valerie Berry. “I don’t know how I lucked out with her. She’s a blessing.”
Before Selena was even born, her family was told she may not sit up, walk or talk. They first came to CHoR several months later, and have been driving from Hampton, VA to see 15 doctors here ever since.
Selena had hydrocephalus (fluid accumulation in her brain) that required placement of a VP shunt. She also has a GJ tube for nutrition, which requires surgical care and inpatient admissions for monitoring every 6 months. Neurosurgery in 2019 treated her Chiari malformation, and her compromised immune system makes it difficult to fend off illness, which lands her in our emergency room regularly. These doctors and many others take excellent care of Selena, and her stuffed bunny Brownie who goes through everything with her, but the most recent life-changing moment was the result of some special care from our ophthalmology team.
Diagnosing Selena’s vision impairment and starting the search for a solution
When Valerie caught Selena climbing on the coffee table to get closer to the tv, and face planting on toys to see them better, she knew something was amiss. She scheduled an ophthalmology appointment and it was confirmed that Selena needed glasses.
“Selena’s vision was very poor and she needed to wear glasses of very high prescription, which meant thick, heavy glasses,” said Dr. Mohannad Al-Samarraie, who first saw Selena in 2024.
Classic glasses with flexible temples didn’t work well on her low-set ears and put pressure on the side of her brain-shunt, which caused painful headaches. Different frames with detachable temples that could be replaced with a strap didn’t fit her small face.
Dr. Al-Samarraie made it his mission to find specialized headgear that would work – but time was of the essence.
“Patients with a very high prescription have very limited visual function. If it’s not corrected early in life, it not only limits their ability to see their surroundings, but can have long term impacts leading to permanent vision impairment, a condition called amblyopia,” said Dr. Al-Samarraie.
For the next year and a half, Dr. Al-Samarraie researched and reached out to companies that make specialty glasses. Most frames he found were still too big for Selena, so his search continued.
“Selena is very special. I see many patients with craniofacial disorders, but I’ve never seen a patient with her condition before. Every time she comes to the clinic, she brings special energy, joy and hugs. She’s very smart,” he added.
The perfect pair of pink glasses opened a world of possibilities
Late last year, he found success with a company that makes adjustable, comfortable and stable straps that go both above and behind the head, without the need to rest on her ears. They work great for kids with abnormal ears (microtia) and those with other craniofacial anomalies. On January 6, 2026, he put them on Selena’s face for the first time and gave grandma a note that read, ‘For the gift of sight. Selena deserves the best.’
Not only were the glasses the perfect fit, but they were her favorite color – pink! Even better are the benefits that come along with them each passing day.
“I put them on her and she starts dancing and shouting ‘I can see!’ in her cute, sweet little voice,” said Valerie. “She’s running now. She wouldn’t run before because she would trip and fall. She’s confident. She’s working on her sight words and reading. She’s starting to ride a tricycle. I can’t even tell you what these glasses have done for her. She loves them so much she wears them to bed.”
Enjoying today, dreaming about tomorrow
Selena spends her days outside, at school, playing Roblox and Minecraft or at the park. She’s happy doing what her sister or friends want to do. Though she stands smaller than 3 feet tall and weighs 20 pounds in first grade, she has big dreams of becoming a police officer or doctor. Either career would suit her.
“She can read a room and people’s feelings. She has so much empathy for others and just has a joy for life,” said Valerie. “I want her to know that she is loved and that she is supported and she can do anything in this world that she wants to do. I want her to live a long, happy, healthy life and make lots of friends and just keep being kind.”
Perhaps she’ll follow in the footsteps of one of her favorite physicians.
“I know how disabling it is for someone with such a high prescription to function. They have no idea how the world may look different than what they see. Improving their sight is monumental,” said Dr. Al-Samarraie. “I believe saving sight is saving lives. This is my mission, saving lives one eye at a time! That’s why I took it on myself behind the clinic time searching and contacting people trying to find a solution,” he added.