WARNING: GRAPHICS
An 8-year-old Michigan boy saved his 6-year-old sister from a vicious dog attack that was nearly life-threatening, the sister’s family said.
Nicholas and Lillian were in the backyard of their grandparents’ home in Saginaw when a neighbor’s pit bull dog got through the neighbor’s fence and “came into the backyard where my two children were playing,” the children’s mother, Rebecca Chitwood, told Fox News Digital.
“They didn’t know the dog,” Chitwood said, adding that the dog “has escaped the property in the past.”
The dog then attacked Lillian, biting the 6-year-old girl in the face and neck.
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Six-year-old Lillian was viciously attacked by a dog on June 30th. (Handouts)
The dog bit Lillian on the face and neck. (Handouts)
“She had multiple bites on her neck, nearly severing an artery in her neck by about three centimetres,” Chitwood said. “Her left eyelid was also repaired, with several stitches. There is extensive nerve damage to her face.”
Nicholas heard his sister’s screams and stepped in to protect her.
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Lillian’s brother, 8-year-old Nicholas, stepped in to save his sister from the dog. (Handouts)
“He jumped on the dog, pulled it off her and kept kicking it until her grandfather came to help,” Chitwood said of her son. “He was just trying to save his sister. He heard her scream and he jumped into action.”
Lillian was taken to the University of Michigan Hospital after the attack and has a long road to recovery, her mother said. They are asking for donations to a GoFundMe to “support this brave little girl’s journey to recovery.”
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Lillian was hospitalized after the attack and faces a long road to recovery. (Handouts)
“I feel so sad for my daughter. She’s scared to look in the mirror, scared to go to school in the fall for fear of being bullied, and she’s scared of dogs,” she said.
Chitwood said she wants dog owners to “take responsibility” and hopes her children’s experience serves as a warning to other dog owners to properly care for their pets.
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“[A]”Cruelty towards animals begins at home,” she said.
local News outlet WNEM Animal control reported that the dog was euthanized after the attack.
