Dog Attack Recovery

*** Warning photos of bite at the end***

Some of you might already know, that I was attacked by a dog on June. 28th 2023 while I was working. From what I've been told the dog was an 8-month-old, 130-pound Neapolitan Mastiff.

To give a summary of what happened - I work at a pharmacy, and I had to fix a mistake our third-party delivery service made. I got to the patient's house and the upstairs neighbour left the front door open with the storm door closed. I walked a few feet from the car when I saw the dog run from inside the house, opening the storm door with its head. The dog jumped at me and grabbed my left upper arm, held onto me and dragged me. The dog let go and came at me two more times which I fought off with my right hand. Once the dog was finally off of me I immediately put pressure on my arm. It felt like I was pulsing out blood. I thought I was going to bleed out right there. The wound was bigger than my entire hand and I could feel it bleeding. Long story short the owner of the dog wasn't helpful, so I got myself up off the ground and called 9/11. I waited for the police and an ambulance but the police never came. The ambulance came and they also called the police because of how the situation went. For a lack of words, the interaction with the dog owner was worse than I could have imagined.

They rushed me to Sunnybrook (the attack happened in Scarborough). The paramedics helped me stay calm and I credit them for taking such good care of me while I was coming out of shock. They told me if the bite was an inch lower It would have hit a major artery and I would have bleed out in 10 minutes. And that I was extremely lucky it didn't get my face or neck, and if I was skinner my entire arm would have come off. We got to the hospital and the trauma team assessed me and called in a plastic surgeon. Everyone was fantastic, and let me talk their ears off so I was distracted during the procedures.

I had to see the surgeon every other day for the next 2 and a half weeks. I was on IV antibiotics for 10 days. The skin they thought might take originally ended up dying. After 2 weeks they had to cut off the dead skin and necrotic tissue so it wouldn't spread further. Then they put an Activac system on it (a vacuum bandage) to promote blood flow and granulation tissue. I have a connective tissue disease which impends my healing. This is why the first skin graft attempt didn't work at all. The vac is helping a lot. They are prepping the wound for a proper skin graft, which they will take from healthy tissue on my thigh. This will happen next week (the week of Aug 1). It is going to be months or over a year before I'm close to healed.

In the interim, the owner has been charged criminally. I also have a lawyer and have started the process to sue. My lawyers have informed me that you cannot claim WSIB and sue someone at the same time. Since I cannot claim WSIB I have been working as much as I physically can at a limited capacity since July 8th. After I get the skin grafts done I will need to take at least 2 weeks off or more depending on how my body reacts. Considering I can't collect WSIB I will not be making any money while I recover from the grafts. I have come a long way financially in recent years but with this unexpected attack, my savings have taken a major hit. My lawyer says it will take over a year to get anywhere suing. I am looking for help that anyone can extend at this time. If you aren't able to help financially I understand and appreciate the prayers and support more than you will ever know.

As an animal lover, this has been very upsetting for me, but it has not stopped my love for dogs. I am thankful for my therapist and the extensive mental health work that I have done over the years, or else I think I would be in a much darker place right now.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, much love.