A Florida woman lost her eye in an awful freak accident while walking her large dog last year.
Daniella Abreu, a 24-year-old medical assistant, was getting ready to walk her 60-pound husky, Blu, on August 7, 2023 when she noticed the rope leash she normally uses was too frayed, and so she decided to grab an old retractable leash instead.
While walking around her neighborhood in Stuart that night, Blu saw a rabbit and lunged toward it, People reports.
Abreu gripped the leash tightly and pulled back, trying to keep Blu under control, when the leash broke and struck her in her right eye, leaving her bloody and blind.
‘As he was running one way and I was pulling the opposite way, the friction of the leash just snapped back and repelled, hitting me right in my eye,’ she recounted.
Daniella Abreu, a 24-year-old medical assistant, was struck in the right eye by a retractable leash when she was walking her husky, Blu, on August 7, 2023
‘It happened so fast, but I knew it was bad immediately. The force of the leash was so traumatic.’
‘There was so much blood,’ Abreu continued. ‘I thought I completely lost my eye, so my fight-or-flight mode kicked in and I was able to run home. I ran inside screaming.
‘My mom got to me first and I just fell into her arms and got really pale. My dad, oh my goodness, his face was so frightened and terrified.
‘Even though it may not have been a life-or-death situation at that moment, I obviously didn’t know,’ she said. ‘I knew it was a pretty severe situation, though. I was losing a lot of blood and eventually I just passed out.
‘All the shock going through my body just overpowered the feeling,’ Abreu recounted.
Her parents then called an ambulance, and she was taken an hour away to a level-one trauma center in Fort Pierce due to the severity of her injuries.
It was there that she was told she suffered a fracture underneath her eye, a retina detachment and her eyelid was split open.
She said her face looked ‘caved in’ and there was a lot of trauma to the bones surrounding her eyes.
Abreu was rushed to a level-one trauma center in Fort Pierce due to the severity of her injuries, where she learned she had a fracture underneath her eye, a retina detachment and her eyelid was split open
After Abreu got X-rays, doctors stitched her eyelid back together.
At around the same time, the adrenaline wore off and the pain set in.
‘The pain was a 10 out of 10,’ she said. ‘I started hysterically crying because it was so bad.’
Abreu was then told she needed emergency surgery, which would require her to be transferred to another hospital, this time in Miami.
At that point, the medical assistant said she was ‘preparing myself for the worst.’
Once she woke up from the surgery, Abreu learned she was permanently blind in her right eye and there was no way to salvage her vision.
She would also require additional surgeries over the course of the next year for the rest of her face to heal, she told People.
‘Even to this day, I still don’t believe it’s true,’ she said.
‘I had to put my entire life on pause.
Doctors stitched her eyelid back together and she learned she was permanently blind in her right eye
‘I went from being a super active girl – on a competitive dance team, working out on the side, a full-time job – and I basically had to take a year off of life.’
In the end, Abreu underwent four surgeries and doctors confirmed the damage to her right eye was so severe it had to be removed.
For months afterward, Abreau said she was bedridden and would sleep often – not only to give her time to heal but also to grieve her former life.
She said she struggled with side effects from the accident, including severe migraines, PTSD, anxiety and panic attacks.
Eventually, Abreu started to see a therapist.
‘I had to basically relearn everything,’ she said.
‘When you have both eyes, you’re used to opening them at the same time. But my right eye was stitched closed, so I had to gradually learn how to only open my left eye, which was straining and it caused me more pain.’
‘I went from being a super active girl – on a competitive dance team, working out on the side, a full-time job – and I basically had to take a year off of life.’
Abreu had her most recent surgery in June, when she was fitted for a prosthetic eye – which she got in August.
It will now need to be replaced every three to five years.
Abreu said she is glad to feel more like herself, but said she is still ‘insecure about a lot of things.
‘I don’t like the movement of my prosthetic, the range of motion is very limited,’ she told People. ‘I still wear a lot of sunglasses everywhere I go because I’m so embarrassed by how it looks.’
She is also continuing to struggle with dizziness and long-distance vision, but is starting regain some of her confidence as she adjusts to her new norm and shares her progress on TikTok.
She uses her platform, where she has more than 125,700 followers to connect with others who have similar injuries and warn others about the dangers of retractable leashes.
Abreu was fitted with a prosthetic eye in June, and received it in August
‘I’ve had a lot of people reach out, and it made me realize there’s a whole community of people who have one eye, not even due to just freak accidents, but various other reasons,’ Abreu said.
‘It also made me feel good to talk about it and spread awareness.’
In one video on July 14, Abreu shared that people keep asking her whether she resents Blu for what happened.
‘Not resentful at all,’ she said. ‘Our bond is stronger than ever. He’s gotten me through my hardships this past year.’
Abreu remains hopeful about her recovery and grateful to share her story
Then, on August 7, she shared a video showing her progress over one year.
‘Today marks a year that my life changed forever,’ Abreu wrote in the caption.
‘I still think about how in one literal second – I went from being able to see through both eyes to having one eye and being blind in one.’
She went on to say she continues to ‘grieve over my old self.
‘I miss the movement of my eyes being in sync together, I miss not having to wear sunglasses everywhere just to feel confident and so much more.’
Still, Abreu retained a hopeful outlook.
‘While one chapter closes, yet another beautiful one opens,’ she wrote. ‘I know I have so many beautiful things to look forward to in the future.
‘My God has gotten me through it all… although my faith was tested, my love for God remained strong and I know that’s why I am able to be so confident in who I am now, despite everything that happened.
‘I am grateful I am able to share my story on a platform like this, where mostly everyone has been so kind,’ Abreu concluded.
‘Cheers to more life, more blessing and more opportunities.’