A 24-year-old woman lost her eye in a freak accident while walking her dog last year.
Daniella Abreu lost her eye when she took her husky for a walk around Stuart on the east coast of Florida.
Before leaving her house in August last year, Daniella noticed that the dog lead she usually used was frayed and decided to grab an old retractable lead instead.
Blu, the dog, saw a rabbit whilst Daniella was out with him and decided to dart towards it.
Daniella gripped the old leash to try and hold the husky back but the leash snapped and hit her in the eye leaving her in excruciating pain.
Danielle said: ‘There was so much blood. 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’s face was so frightened and terrified.
‘I was losing a lot of blood and I eventually passed out. All the shock going through my body just overpowered the feeling.’
The accident had split open her eyelid and she had suffered a fracture under her eye and split open her retina.
Daniella was taken to a level one trauma centre that evening where doctors stitched her eye back together after her parents called an ambulance.
The 24-year-old was then told she required surgery immediately and would be transferred to a different hospital, this one in Miami.
After the surgery, Daniella was given the life-changing news that she was permanently blind in her right eye.
She underwent four more surgeries before her eye was ultimately removed due to the severity of the damage.
‘Even to this day, I still don’t believe it’s true,’ she said.
‘I had to put my entire life on pause. 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 life.
Daniella was bedbound for months after the injury suffering with severe migraines, PTSD and anxiety because of the injury.
She was fitted with a prosthetic eye in June of this year at her most recent surgery.
‘I don’t like the movement of my prosthetic,’ she said.
‘I still wear a lot of sunglasses everywhere I go because I’m embarrassed by how it looks.’
As she tries to adapt to her new life, Daniella has been sharing her journey on TikTok where she has more than 125,000 followers. She uses her platform to connect with others who have similar issues.
‘I’ve had a lot of people reach out and it made me realise that there’s a whole community of people who have one eye,’ Daniella said.
‘It made me feel good to talk about it and spread awareness.’
Daniella’s neighbours of 15 years have created a GoFundMe page to help her with her recovery in the hope that new medical technology could help the medical assistant regain her vision.
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