A young Florida woman required surgery to have her left eye removed after a freak accident involving a dog leash.
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On the night of August 7, 2023, Daniella Abreu, 24, was taking a stroll in her Stuart, Florida neighborhood with her 60-pound husky, Blu. During their walk, Blu caught sight of a rabbit.
Abreu normally employed a rope leash to manage Blu’s size. However, her regular leash had become too frayed. As a result, she turned to an old retractable leash, which unfortunately failed when the dog lunged for a rabbit.
“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,” Abreu recalled to People. “It happened so fast but I knew it was bad immediately. The force of the leash was so traumatic.”
After the accident, Abreu said her “fight-or-flight mode kicked in,” and she ran home, screaming to her parents.
“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,” she told the outlet.
“Even though it may not have been a life-or-death situation, at that moment, I obviously didn’t know. I knew it was a pretty severe situation, though. I was losing a lot of blood and eventually, I just passed out,” Abreu recalled. “All the shock going through my body just overpowered the feeling.”
Abreu was quickly transported to a trauma center in Fort Pierce, an hour from her home, due to the severity of her injuries. The accident resulted in a laceration of her eyelid, along with a fracture beneath her eye and a detached retina.
Abreu Called the Paina ’10 out of 10′ Following the Dog Leash Accident
Doctors stitched the eyelids of her left eye together. “The pain was a 10 out of 10. I started hysterically crying because it was so bad,” she admitted.
Abreu had emergency surgery in Miami and was declared permanently blind in her right eye. After undergoing four additional surgeries, doctors confirmed the damage was severe enough to necessitate the removal of her eye.
Abreu’s neighbors, who have known her for over 15 years, established a GoFundMe campaign after the incident. They believe that the funds raised could aid her recovery, with the hope that innovative medical technology will restore her vision.
She has also begun seeing a therapist, and following her final surgery in June, she was fitted with a prosthetic eye designed to last three to five years before requiring replacement. Abreu’s also shared moments from her recovery on her TikTok.
“I had to basically relearn everything,” she explained. “When you have both eyes, you’re used to opening them at the same time. But my right eye was stitched close, so I had to gradually learn how to only open my left eye, which was straining and it caused me more pain.”