A Florida woman lost an eye in a horrific 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 that the rope leash she normally uses was too worn out, so she decided to grab one. Instead, use an old retractable leash.
While walking through his neighborhood in Stuart that night, Blu saw a rabbit and pounced on it. People’s reports.
Abreu gripped the leash tightly and pulled back, trying to keep Blu under control, when the leash broke and hit her in the right eye, leaving her bloodied and blind.
“As he ran in one direction and I pulled in the opposite direction, the friction of the belt just recoiled and repelled me, hitting me right in the eye,” he said.
Daniella Abreu, a 24-year-old medical assistant, was hit in the right eye by a retractable leash while walking her husky, Blu, on August 7, 2023.
‘It happened very quickly, but I knew straight away it was bad. “The force of the strap was very traumatic.”
“There was so much blood,” Abreu continued. ‘I thought I had completely lost my eye, so my fight or flight mode kicked in and I was able to run home. I ran inside screaming.
‘My mother came to me first and I fell into her arms and turned very pale. My dad, oh my god, his face was so scared and terrified.
“While it may not have been a life-or-death situation at the time, I obviously didn’t know that,” he said. —However, I knew it was a pretty serious situation. I was losing a lot of blood and eventually I fainted.
“All the shock that went through my body surpassed the sensation,” Abreu said.
Her parents then called an ambulance and took her an hour away to a level one trauma center in Fort Pierce due to the severity of her injuries.
It was there that he was told that he had suffered a fracture under his eye, a retinal detachment and that his eyelid had been opened.
He said her face looked “sunken” and that there was a lot of trauma to the bones around 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 under her eye, a detached retina and a split eyelid.
After Abreu had X-rays, doctors sewed his eyelid back together.
Almost at the same time, the adrenaline disappeared and the pain appeared.
“The pain was a 10 out of 10,” he said. “I started crying hysterically 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 the time, the medical assistant said she was “preparing for the worst.”
Once she woke up from surgery, Abreu learned that she was permanently blind in her right eye and that there was no way to regain her vision.
He would also need additional surgeries over the course of the next year for the rest of his face to heal, he told People.
“Even to this day, I still don’t believe it’s true,” he said.
“I had to put my whole life on pause.
Doctors sewed 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, doing extra exercise, a full-time job) and basically had to take a year off from life.”
Ultimately, Abreu underwent four surgeries and doctors confirmed that the damage to his right eye was so severe that it had to be removed.
For months afterward, Abreau said she was bedridden and slept frequently, not only to give herself time to heal but also to grieve her previous life.
He said he struggled with side effects from the accident, including severe migraines, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and panic attacks.
Eventually, Abreu started seeing a therapist.
“I basically had to relearn everything,” he said.
‘When you have both eyes, you are used to opening them at the same time. But my right eye was sewn shut, so I had to gradually learn to open only my left eye, which was straining and causing more pain.’
“I went from being a super active girl (on a competitive dance team, doing extra exercise, a full-time job) and basically had to take a year off from life.”
Abreu had his most recent surgery in June, when he was fitted with a prosthetic eye, which he received in August.
It will now need to be replaced every three to five years.
Abreu said she’s glad to feel more like herself, but said she still feels “insecure about a lot of things.”
“I don’t like the movement of my prosthesis, the range of motion is very limited,” he told People. “I still wear a lot of sunglasses everywhere I go because I’m so embarrassed by the way they look.”
He also still struggles with dizziness and long-distance vision, but is starting to regain some confidence as he adjusts to his new norm and shares his progress on TikTok.
He uses his platform, where he has more than 125,700 followers, to connect with others who have similar injuries and warn others about the dangers of retractable leashes.
Abreu had an eye prosthesis placed in June and received it in August
“A lot of people reached out and it made me realize that there is a whole community of people who have one eye, not even because of freak accidents, but for various other reasons,” Abreu said.
“It also made me feel good to talk about it and raise awareness.”
In a video on July 14Abreu shared that people keep asking him if Blu is bothered by what happened.
“I’m not resentful at all,” she said. ‘Our bond is stronger than ever. He helped me overcome my difficulties last year.’
Abreu remains hopeful about his recovery and is grateful to be able to share his story
Then, on August 7, he shared a video showing his progress over a year.
“Today marks a year in which my life changed forever,” Abreu wrote in the caption.
“I still think about how in a literal second I went from being able to see with both eyes to having one eye and being blind in one.”
He went on to say that he continues to “grieve for the old me.”
“I miss my synchronized eye movement, I miss not having to wear sunglasses everywhere just to feel safe and so much more.”
Still, Abreu maintained a hopeful outlook.
“As one chapter closes, another beautiful one opens,” he wrote. ‘I know I have so many beautiful things to look forward to in the future.
‘My God has gotten me through everything…even though my faith was tested, my love for God remained strong and I know that’s why I can be so confident in who I am now, despite everything that’s happened.
“I am grateful to be able to share my story on a platform like this, where almost everyone has been so kind,” Abreu concluded.
“Cheers to more life, more blessings and more opportunities.”