Kyleen Waltman was in hospital for seven weeks after three dogs bit her head, arms, legs and colon (Photos: Amy Wynne / WYFF)
A mother of three was severely scalped and had both arms torn off by two pit bulls and a German Shepherd.
Kyleen Waltman, 38, was returning from her boyfriend’s house when she was attacked by three dogs in Abeville County, South Carolina. Waltman lost consciousness as the dogs bit her skull until she saw her eyelids and chewed on her colon.
Local farmer Avery Presley fired a gun into the air and kicked one of the dogs to save her.
Waltman received life-threatening injuries from the March 21 attack and spent seven weeks in hospital. Her arms were amputated and she had a colostomy to treat colon injuries. Her shoulder bones were also removed, which means she may not have arm prostheses.
38-year-old Kyleen Waltman underwent more than a dozen surgeries after three dogs attacked her (Photo: GoFundMe)
Doctors could not suture her scalp and forehead for a month because they had to wait for the bite infection to disappear. She has undergone more than a dozen surgeries and speaks with a voice-generated box because she has lost her vocal cords.
Waltman returned home on Mother’s Day, according to her sister Amy Win.
“It was hard, but we were trying to adjust to our new life,” Win, 41, wrote on a GoFundMe page about her medical expenses.
“She’s talking, haha. She’s running our poor mother, furious [sic] as the least.
Kyleen Waltman (left) was attacked by three dogs on her way home from her boyfriend’s house (Photo: Amy Win)
However, the pain is not over for Waltman. She will undergo a number of outpatient surgeries, including grafting on her leg so that she does not lose it.
Waltman’s leg “is getting stronger, but they need to pull the muscle out of the calf and see if that works,” Win said. “They made a graft around (the wound) to see if it would last, and got up.”
She already has a three-hour operation to re-transplant her shoulder, and the leg operation is expected to last nine hours.
Dog owner Justin Minor has appeared in court and faces numerous charges (Photo: FOX 4)
Waltman was denied medical care and disability coverage for a home nurse, so her 61-year-old mother, Diane Johnson, cared for her.
“We have to do everything for her,” Win wrote. “Mom takes the weight because Kyleen lives with Mom.”
The dogs were euthanized after the attack, according to People. Their owner, 36-year-old Justin Minor, faces a number of criminal charges.
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