- November 4, 2024
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Pull quote: “To see her get up and down that floor and do the things she does is crazy.” Javier Bevacqua, on Darieli Abreu’s abilities, after her motorcycle accident
After crashing on a motorcycle in November 2013, it is a miracle Darieli Abreu not only walks and runs, but she continues to excel in the game she loves.
The, then, 15-year-old New York star basketball player was visiting family in the Dominican Republic, when, riding with a friend on a bridge, a struck swerved into their lane and struck them, knocking them off of the motorcycle. Abreu went flying in the air, and the high gates on the bridge preserved her from going over into the water. Miraculously, her friend got up from the crash and went to check on her, whose life had been spared, not so much her left leg.
Suffering a broken knee cap and thigh bone, Abreu underwent surgery to stabilize her leg. She was watched around the clock, in fear that any complications would cause her to have a major heart attack that could've possibly killed her.
Following surgery, she went through a month of rehab in the Dominican Republic, but, once she got back to New York, she wasn’t able to continue, due to financial costs and other problems, but she began to rehab in her own fashion, on the court.
“I got angry sitting at home, so I grabbed a basketball and went to park and played with a bunch of boys,” Abreu said.
Months later, nowhere near a 100% full recovery, Abreu returned to her team, Grand Street Campus, and she finished last season nominated as a 2015 All-New York City honorable mention.
This year with the FPC Lady Bulldogs, Abreu is averaging 13.5 points per game, along with six rebounds and nearly three steals.
“To see her get up and down that floor and do the things she does is crazy,” said Javier Bevacqua, FPC’s coach.
Though she’s come a long way from that accident, Abreu still deals with a lot of pain, on and off the court. Abreu takes medication before her games but says it doesn’t work most of the time.
“People know that I’m pretty tough, but I cry a lot now, because it gets painful," she said. "But, I love playing basketball, and nothing’s going to stop me from doing it. It's my strength to deal with anger and everything."
