I was in the 5th grade with only 2 weeks to go before the end of the school year. My cousin and I were playing around after school one day at our Grand Parents house when we went over to his house to throw a ball around. One of his dogs was starting to go a little crazy so while we were throwing the ball around, he was trying to grab it and tear it to shreds. A few minutes later the dog was getting tired of trying to grab the ball and attempts to get one of us who were holding the ball.Before I knew it the dog was jumping all around me, pushing me to the ground. At this moment I knew this wasn’t right and I couldn’t stop it. The dog started biting me all over. Eventually I was in the fetal position while he was on my back biting away on the back of my neck. The dog was so relentless that even as I was trying to cover my neck with my hands, he was biting into my hands. He was totally focused on eating into one area of my body.
My cousin who was standing around watching this eventually took off, running away to get help. I on the other hand couldn’t run. I was screaming and crying my eyes out. I was crying so much I was blinded by all the water in my eyes. The pain was starting to really hurt in my neck and on the back of my hands. I could hear over the sound of the growling dog that cars were going by us; but none of them stopped. Then time felt like it was stopping. I couldn’t see clearly, sounds were becoming unclear and my neck was feeling a little numb.
I felt someone pick me up and move me away. My eyes began to clear up and I heard a woman’s voice telling me everything was OK. I then began to clearly hear a man’s voice chasing away the dog. They lived next door to my cousin and had heard me screaming. I don’t remember if I walked to their house of if they carried me. I just felt like I really wanted to go to sleep. By the time I went into their house and took off my shirt my mother and cousin showed up.
A towel was pressed on the back of my neck as I sat in the chair. I didn’t see it but the whole back of the shirt was cover in blood. The towel was removed and it became very clear that I needed to get to a hospital quickly. Every time I took a breath, blood would pump out of my neck. The couple bandaged up my neck the best they could as my mother called the ambulance to come and get me. My cousin is standing nearby in shock of seeing me in this condition. The couple then gave me a shirt to wear due to the fact the shirt I was wearing was socked in my own blood. This resulted in me cousin screaming.
The shirt was a Farrah Fawcett t-shirt. In my weakened state I stood up to look in the door mirror and saw that I was indeed wearing the shirt. My cousin began complaining that he wished the dog had attack him so he could wear the shirt. I, who could barely stand, was grinning ear to ear saying “na-na-na-na-na-na, this is my lucky day I guess. “ We both started to argue on who should get to wear the shirt. But the argument was short lived as I quickly sat back down and started to close my eyes and go to sleep.
My mother who was still on the phone giving directions to the ambulance to get to our house noticed what was happening and told them that she was going to carry me to them. I don’t remember getting in the car or the drive to the ambulance station in Wendell, NC. I just remember sitting up in the ambulance on the drive to the hospital. They were working on treating my hands and neck area. They wouldn’t let me lay down or let me be quiet. They kept me talking and focused on staying awake. I do remember bragging about the Farrah Fawcett t-shirt I was wearing. But the closer we got to the hospital the more I became groggy and sleepy.
Nearly everything at the hospital was unclear. I can only remember a few things plus what my mother told me later on. The nurses shaved the back of my neck and head so the Doctor could begin to fix up the area. I do remember talking about the shirt and drinking lots of medicine due to the fact I was still bleeding from the neck. The dog bites were deep and many. The jugular vein was missed by a half a centimeter but a lot of other areas were not so good. I was at the hospital for a long time as the Doctor worked on my neck area. Luckily I didn’t need to get rabies shots but I had to stay in bed for weeks unable to move my head or use my hands for a while.
The only thing I felt that got me through this entire ordeal was the t-shirt of Farrah Fawcett. A young boy hitting puberty and getting to wear that shirt was one of the biggest highlights of my life at that time. I wanted everyone to see me in that shirt. I wanted people to know how lucky I am to wear it. That shirt kept me focused and determined to not give up. I went though a lot of pain and suffering but Farrah Fawcett helped me to keep a smile on my face and to have a positive outlook on a bad situation.
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