A 13-year-old boy from Rolla, Missouri, was savagely attacked by a neighbor’s dog while he was delivering cupcakes to a friend.
Noah was outside his neighbor’s house when the pit bull pounced on him twice, tearing his neck and face open.
According to reports, the dog managed to break loose from its chain and attacked Noah in front of his 12-year-old sister.
The teen’s pregnant mother Julia Poland, stepfather Beau Logan, and the dog’s owner pulled the dog away from him but it managed to attack him savagely for the second time.
Noah was airlifted to a children’s hospital in Saint Louis where he underwent emergency surgeries.
Tara Stone, who was hosting the gender reveal party, said: “My sister was at my house for a small gender reveal party. We grilled, enjoyed some cupcakes, and celebrated my sister and her future baby boy joining our family.
“When Julia got home, she was unloading the car with my nephew Noah who wanted to give the neighbor’s daughter a cupcake.”
“He came back to grab a few more for her parents but when he returned to the neighbor’s house, their dog broke loose from his chain outside and attacked Noah,” Tara continued. “The neighbor, my sister Julia and Noah’s stepdad all ran and attempted to pull the dog off. They did but the dog got loose a second time.
“After they removed the dog a second time, Noah was carried inside the house where my sister and a neighbor administered first aid until the EMT arrived to take him to the ER before Noah was later airlifted to hospital.
“No one knew the full extent of Noah’s injuries. We just knew there was a lot of blood and his face was mauled to the point of being unrecognisable. We didn’t know if he was going to live or die. My sister described his face to me as a ‘hamburger.’”
Noah has undergone our surgeries to re-map the arteries and nerves and to reconstruct his face using muscle tissue and skin graft from his thigh and nerves from his leg.
The reconstruction is not yet complete and doctors are not certain whether the teen will regain feeling in the right side of his mouth or face.
“Reconstruction will require extensive additional surgeries. Noah lost so much muscle from the right side of his face that doctors had to graft skin and tissue from his thigh, and nerves from his leg,” Tara expressed.
“It’s certainly taken prayers, family, and community support to stay strong. We’ve always been a family that’s been able to come together and find ways to support and love each other during the difficult times.”
Tara set up a GoFundMe page for Noah and it has raised more than $40,000.
“The way the community has responded with love, gratitude and encouragement has been a beautiful thing,” she said.
“It doesn’t replace the heartache but it really has brought some level of comfort during this extremely difficult time. No family expects tragedy to strike until it happens to them but my sister has been one of the strongest people I know throughout this.”
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