By Danelle C., October 7, 2019 — When [my son] had just turned four and [my daughter] was only 1 year old we were attending a family barbecue when potentially the worst possible situation took place. We were all outside enjoying a beautiful day; I still remember, it was the end of may and nothing was out of the ordinary. There was music playing, people enjoying hot dogs, and all of the uncles were playing dominos.
After we finished eating, a few of us crossed the street with the kids to let … [them] run around. After a brief stay at the park, all I remember is hearing loud barking, getting closer to us with every second. A large pit bull was approaching us at the park when I grabbed [my daughter] and everyone gathered the other kids and ran back to the house. But before I or [my husband] could get [our son], he had been attacked by the pit. [My husband and his brother] were able to get the dog off before too much damage was done, but the dog had already ripped off a chunk of [my son’s] cheek. We rushed him to the hospital where he had to have plastic surgery administered to his face because stitches weren’t enough to solve the problem. To this day, I consider this one of the scariest moments of my life as a parent.