Photo Courtesy of GoFundMe
A 4-year-old Texas boy is currently recovering in the ICU after an unleashed pitbull attacked him while on a walk in a Fresno neighborhood with his 15-year-old babysitter last Tuesday. The boy’s parents said his babysitter became a hero when she interfered and saved his life.
Carson Neal sustained extensive injuries. He required stitches in his head and back arm and had to undergo two surgeries, one of which was to repair nerve damage on his face, between his ear and jaw. He’s also in the ICU for spinal fluid leaking from a tiny puncture wound on the back of his head.
Cortney, his father, told Click 2 Houston how his injured son gave details of the attack.
“He’s like, ‘the dog was big, dad. The dog was big and black, and he dragged me,'” Neal said. “He’s scared of dogs. I think they were trying to run, but he froze. He told me he froze. He’s like, ‘I kind of froze, dad.'”
His mother described the matter on their GoFundMe page as “the worst pain in the world” to watch “your child suffer in the hospital, and there’s nothing you can do to ease the pain.”
Cortney described his son as “very strong and brave” and said he hadn’t “seen a tear come out of his eye. I think we’ve cried more than him.”
To the outlet and on their GoFundMe page, the parents credited their son’s babysitter for saving his life and expressed their gratitude that she chose to stay and fight the vicious dog instead of running away.
“She bravely tried to fight off the dog,” Cortney explained. “She never left him. We couldn’t have asked anything more than what she did.”
The pitbull’s owner eventually came and got the dog off of Carson. The babysitter was bitten as well, but Carson needed extensive care.
Carson’s parents are both shaken up and saddened about their son’s condition but are happy that he’s still alive and in good spirits.
The GoFundMe was created for the family and is requesting $20,000 to assist them in paying Carson’s medical expenses.