Mum's warning after son's head ripped open by dogs
It's been a long, gruelling recovery since the terrifying incident.
A mum is warning other parents to be wary of pets after her son's scalp was ripped open during a gruesome dog attack. Hunter Kilbourn was just 10 years old when he was set upon by two angry pit bulls.
His mother, Melody, who works as a nurse, had let him go to their neighbour's place for the day to play with one of the children when the horrifying incident took place.
"He went to the neighbour's house to play video games with his friend," Melody said. "He was let into their home and began to go upstairs. There was one dog that was at the top of the stairs, and it lunged down at him and started attacking him."
Then all hell broke loose. "At that time the second dog ran inside from the backyard and ran up the stairs and began attacking the back of his head and arms," she explained to NeedToKnow.co.uk.
Melody was at her home in California getting ready to pick up Hunter when a neighbour ran over to tell her the horrible news. While the horrified mum called for an ambulance, Hunter was carried home by his friend's father, with a towel over his bloody face.
Horrific injuries
"That moment traumatised me forever, my son was missing half his face, most of his ear, his eyebrow, his eyelid," Melody explained. "I was even able to see his skull behind his eye. The other side of his face was missing a chunk of his cheek. Hunter looked at me and said 'Mama am I going to die?'
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"The ambulance and firefighters soon arrived, and told me that they believed he had a fractured skull as well as bites on his arms, face, and back of his head."
Hunter was rushed to a nearby park where a helicopter was waiting to flying him to the hospital. He was taken into surgery straight away, with six more operations to follow, including skin grafts and reconstructive surgery.
Doctors took skin from Hunter's groin and skin grafted the right side of his face, making him a new eyelid, as well as reattaching his lower left ear and lobe.
"The surgeries were all successful, and after a lot of prayer he eventually regained movement in his face. Though the vision in his eye has been affected, and he can only slightly see out of that one," Melody said.
"After he was discharged from the hospital, we had weekly appointments as well as a few more surgeries, which included scalp revision. The dogs took out such an enormous chunk of his scalp that his scalp needed to be sliced open and re-closed to be tighter."
Hunter was eventually discharged, however he was too scared to go home, so went to stay with his grandmother for a while.
Fight to put dogs down
The dog owners reportedly refused to put the dogs down, so Melody fought her case and won. Her son, who has attended therapy for PTSD and trauma healing, received compensation from the pet owner's home insurance policy.
"It wasn't much and not nearly what it should be for the long-lasting life effects it has done on his physical and mental health," Melody said. "The dog owners were more concerned about keeping their dogs alive and fought hard to not have them put down.
"But I got a lawyer and fought back. I spoke at a city hearing and explained how dangerous the dogs were, what happened, and the damage they did to my son. But that [case] was closed years ago."
However, Melody's neighbour soon bought two new pit bulls, prompting her family to move to a new area.
A decade later, Hunter, 20, has finally recovered and no longer needs medical follow-ups. And while he's still afraid of strangers' canines, he's actually considering getting a pet dog.
"We do not own any dogs but are okay being around familiar dogs of certain breeds, that belong to our friends. We do cross the street if someone is walking their dog," Melody said. "However, besides the PTSD and trauma, Hunter has recently said how he would like a dog of his own in the future."
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