“Put my whole life on pause”

A Florida medical assistant was left permanently blind in her right eye and needed surgery to remove it after a horrific accident when her large dog pounced on a rabbit during her walk.

Daniella Abreu, 24, and her 60-pound husky Blu were taking a nighttime walk through their neighborhood in Stuart, Florida, when the pooch spotted the wandering bunny on August 7, 2023.

Because of the dog’s size, Abreu used a rope leash to control Blu, but her usual leash was too frayed.

She used an old extendable leash, but it gave way when the dog spotted the rabbit.

Abreu was struck in the face by the handle of the extendable leash and began bleeding during the “traumatic” incident.

“As he was running in one direction and I was pulling in the opposite direction, the friction of the leash just snapped back and pushed me off, hitting me right in the eye,” Abreu told People. “It happened so quickly, but I knew straight away it was bad. The force of the line was so traumatic.”

After the unusual incident, Abreu says her “flight-or-fight mode” kicked in and she ran home screaming to her parents.

“My mother came to me first and I just fell into her arms and became very pale. My dad, oh my God, his face was so scared and scared,” she recalled.

“While it may not have been a matter of life or death, I obviously didn’t know it at that moment. However, I knew it was a pretty serious situation. I lost a lot of blood and eventually just passed out,” Abreu added. “The whole shock that went through my body just overwhelmed the feeling.”

Due to her serious injuries, Abreu was taken to a trauma center in Fort Pierce, an hour from her home.

The accident caused her eyelid to tear open, she suffered a fracture under the eye and a detached retina.

Abreu was given an

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

Abreu underwent emergency surgery in Miami and was declared permanently blind in her right eye with no chance of saving her vision.

Abreu underwent four more surgeries, with doctors confirming the severity of the damage and ultimately leading to the removal of her eye.

She says she was bedridden for the first few months and often slept to both heal and grieve, according to the outlet.

“To this day I don’t believe it’s true,” she admits. “I had to put my whole life on hold. I went from being just a super active girl—on a competitive dance team, training on the side, working a full-time job—and basically having to take a year off.”

Abreu suffered from severe migraines, post-traumatic stress disorder, and anxiety and panic attacks as a result of the incident.

“The emotional and financial impact on this beautiful family is severe,” the crowdfunding campaign says.

Abreu’s neighbors, who she had been with for more than 15 years, started a GoFundMe after the incident, saying the money raised could help her recover in the hopes that new medical technologies could repair her vision.

She has started seeing a therapist and, after her most recent surgery in June, was fitted with a prosthetic eye that will serve her for three to five years before it needs to be replaced.

“I basically had to relearn everything,” she 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 tiring and caused me more pain.”