24-Year-Old Loses Eye from Retractable Dog Leash (Exclusive) ArticlePure

• Daniella Abreu went blind after her dog’s retractable leash snapped and hit her in the eye
• The 24-year-old opens up about her painful accident and year-long recovery journey
• She now uses her TikTok to share her story and raise awareness about the dangers of retractable leashes

A Florida woman is issuing a warning after suffering a freak accident while walking her dog — and losing an eye.

On August 7, 2023, Daniella Abreu was getting ready for a nighttime walk with her dog, a 60-lb. husky named Blu. Because of Blu’s size, Abre preferred a rope leash for walks. That night, though, it was too frayed so she grabbed an old retractable leash and left the house.

While walking around her neighborhood in Stuart, Florida, Blu saw a rabbit and suddenly lunged toward it. Abreu gripped the leash tightly and pulled back, trying to keep Blu under control.

“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,” the 24-year-old medical assistant tells PEOPLE. “It happened so fast but I knew it was bad immediately. The force of the leash was so traumatic.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer??, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. 

The handle of the retractable leash hit Abreu in her right eye and her face started gushing blood.

“There was so much blood. I thought I completely lost my eye, so my flight or fight 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,” she recalls. “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. I knew it was a pretty severe situation though. I was losing a lot of blood and eventually I just passed out,” she continues. “All the shock going through my body just overpowered the feeling.”

Abreu’s parents 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. She suffered a fracture underneath her eye, a retina detachment, and her eyelid was split open. Abreu says her face looked “caved in” and there was a lot of trauma to the bones surrounding her eye.

Following X-rays, doctors stitched her eyelid back together. Then, the adrenaline wore off and the pain finally settled in.

“The pain was a 10 out of 10. I started hysterically crying because it was so bad,” she says. 

Abreu was also told that she needed emergency surgery, which would require a transfer to another hospital in Miami. At that point, she was “preparing myself for the worst.”

After waking up from surgery, Abreu got confirmation that she was permanently blind in her right eye and there was no way to salvage her vision. She’d have a long road to recovery that required additional surgeries for the rest of her face to heal.

“Even to this day, I still don’t believe it’s true,” she admits. “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 of life.”

The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!

Abreu underwent four surgeries and doctors confirmed the damage to her right eye was so severe that it had to be removed.

For the first few months after the accident, Abreu says she was bedridden. She slept often, not only to heal but to grieve.

She struggled with side effects from the accident including severe migraines, PTSD, anxiety and panic attacks. She eventually started seeing a therapist.

“I had to basically relearn everything,” she explains. “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.”

After her last surgery in June, Abreu was fitted for a prosthetic eye, which she got in August. It will need to be replaced every three to five years. Although it’s an adjustment, she’s glad to look slightly more like herself.

“I’m doing alright but I still feel very insecure about a lot of things,” she shares. “I don’t like the movement of my prosthetic, the range of motion is very limited. I still wear a lot of sunglasses everywhere I go because I’m so embarrassed by how it looks.”

Abreu also deals with dizziness and struggles with her long-distance vision. However, she’s slowly starting to regain some of her confidence as she adjusts to her new norm.

Abreu has since shared her story on TikTok, and she now uses her platform to connect with others with similar injuries. She also emphasizes the importance of using rope leashes rather than retractable ones — regardless of a dog’s size.

“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,” she tells PEOPLE. “It also made me feel good to talk about it and spread awareness.”

She adds, “It’s been life-altering, and I’m just trying to learn how to deal with it.”