A distraught mother has warned other parents their children are never truly safe with family pets after a Staffordshire bull terrier puppy attacked her ten-year-old daughter – forcing her to have part of her right leg amputated.
Brave Milly-Anne Hemley was savaged by two-year-old Rory as she got ready for school at 7.45am on December 19 last year.
The ‘gentle’ Staffie, who had been with the family for 14 months, clamped its jaw on to the schoolgirl’s right leg and viciously shook her like a rag doll in the hallway of the family home in Long Buckby.
Remarkably, fearless Milly-Anne even hugged her dog and told him ‘it’s only me Rory’ as her brothers Braydon Payea, 15, and Jamie Payea, 13, tried desperately to get him off.
And the courageous girl didn’t even shed a tear when Jamie eventually pushed the dog off – leaving her with just an inch of skin and bone holding her foot and leg together.
Milly was rushed 25 miles away by ambulance to the University Hospital in Coventry, West Mids., where she underwent almost ten hours of surgery as doctors battled to save her lower leg.
But just two hours into the operation, doctors asked devastated mum Paula Warren, 32, to sign a form after telling her there was no choice but to amputate.
Speaking from home yesterday (Tues), brave Milly-Anne said: “I was standing there and the front door opened.
“I screamed a bit because the other door (front room) was open and I thought he was going to run away.
“Then he just locked on me. He just didn’t let go and he shook me. I remember my whole body shaking. I was hugging his back and saying ‘it’s only me Rory’.
“Jamie pushed him against the stairs and got him off me. He came at me again and bit my other leg.
“But they pushed me into the living room and shut the door.”
Mum Paula, who was a home carer but gave up her job to look after Milly-Anne, added: “I received the call at 7.51am. I can still remember it.
“I didn’t think it would be that bad but when I got home it was so horrendous.
“It was just gone, it was just a piece of bone. She had only an inch, maybe an inch-and-a-half of skin on the rest of that bit of her leg.
“There was no crying. The first thing she said was ‘I borrowed a pair of your leggings mummy and I’ve broke them sorry.’
“We got her in the ambulance and her foot was pink but we got to hospital and it was horrible.
“I watched it go from pink to blue to white. You could see there was not enough blood getting there.
“They said they would do all they could but I had to be open to amputation. After two hours the doctor came out to me and I knew what he wanted.
“He said if she was left with that bit of her leg, the foot would be useless. But of course I was just hearing ‘we are going to cut her leg off’.
“It must have been the slowest I have signed my signature ever.”
Mum-of-four Paula, who lives with her husband-of-four years Gordon, 46, Milly-Anne, her two brothers and sister Alexis, 13, is now warning other parents about how dangerous any dog can be.
Two-year-old Rory, who was put down at the vets immediately after the incident, had been living with the family for 14 months.
His dad Badger, four, had also been the family dog since he was six-months-old and Paula said neither had ever shown any signs of aggression.
She added “He (Rory) was adorable, he was lovely. There was nothing about that dog that led me to believe he was aggressive.
“He would bark if someone came to the door but that is it. I am a mum with four children, if he had showed any signs of aggression, he would’ve been out.
“The day before it happened he was curled up on a chair with her cuddling. Even minutes before it happened he was asleep on the living room floor.
“This proves more than anything that you just don’t know your own dog.
“We just don’t know why he did it, we will never know why he did it. He had never gone without food or been badly treated.
“We had him castrated and he was lovely. I could feed him out of my mouth and he would be gentle.
“It proves that you don’t know your own animal. They have no way of telling you they are in pain.”
After the operation smiley Milly-Anne stunned physios at the hospital by learning to walk with crutches and being discharged after just nine days on December 28.
She is now waiting for her leg to heal before doctors can begin to prepare her for a prosthetic limb.
The family have even got a five-month-old kitten, which Milly-Anne has named Jazz, for the schoolgirl to play with while she recovers.
Milly-Anne said: “I found the name in a word search. He is cute. I like when he puts his paws on my nose and cuddles me.
“Everyone calls me a little soldier. Everyone says I’m brave. I don’t feel brave, I just get on with it and keep smiling.”
Mum Paula added: “She has been so brave. Milly’s bravery has been my strength, I don’t think I could have stayed strong if she wasn’t.”
“The hospital was amazing. We all stayed Christmas Eve and slept there and they made us all Christmas dinner. I stayed the whole time with her.
“She didn’t know she had lost the bottom of the leg until the following day. I kept trying to tell her on the Thursday morning but I couldn’t do it. I got so far and then I kept crying.
“So the doctor told her in all the doctor words and after he was gone she said ‘when are they doing it mummy?’
“And I said ‘they’ve already done it’. She cried for 30 seconds but that’s the only time she cried through it all.
“She had surgery on the Wednesday on the Friday she was in a wheelchair whizzing around the ward.
“The physios were amazed, they said normally they are in bed feeling sorry for themselves.
“They said to take three steps with the crutches and she went up and down the ward. She defied everyone.”
As well as having Rory destroyed, the family also Badger re-homed because they didn’t want Milly-Anne come home and face a dog.
Paula said: “Badger tried to get Rory off her and started licking Milly’s face. He had even bitten Rory on the neck but then he went upstairs frightened.
“I blame myself entirely because I’m a mother and I wasn’t there. But it was just a normal routine day in the house.
“Even if I was there I could’ve been in the shower or in the kitchen.
“I sleep on the sofa and my husband sleeps on the floor. It is in case she wakes up and doesn’t remember and tries to walk or falls out of bed.
“I haven’t seen my own bed since the night before it happened.
“The paramedic who was the first responder came to see her the other day. She said she’s an inspiration and she can’t believe she didn’t shed a single tear.”
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