3-year-old Attacked by Pit Bull Needs Your Help

My name is Claire Henrichs and I live in Webster, NY.  Yesterday afternoon, I got a horrifying phone call from my former foster son, Justin Forrester.  He told me that his three-year-old daughter had been attacked by a  pit bull and had been seriously injured.

On arrival at the hospital, I was shocked at the amount of damage caused by this dog.  He literally clamped his jaws onto her face.  She has a broken top and bottom jaw and her jaw has literally been separated from her skull, has lost five of her teeth and has significant soft tissue damage to the rest of her face. Fortunately, her eyes themselves are okay - there is considerable damage to the tissue surrounding her eyes, but she has not been blinded.  That is the only good thing I can think of to say.  She had one surgery last night and is going to need many more.  She is in the Pediatric Instensive Unit at Strong Memorial Hospital in guarded condition.  I have seen elderly people on respirators in intensive care units, but to see a tiny girl in this shape shook me terribly.

Jayden's dad also sustained injuries in the attack when he pried the dog off of his daughter, including having had one of the dog's teeth go straight through his hand.  If he had not been so close by I have no doubt the dog would have killed this little girl. He saved his child's life. 

When Justin managed to pry the dog off his daughter, the dog went after her again.  Jayden's mom protected her daughter from the second attack by throwing herself over her child.  

The dog is male, unneutered by its owner and is estimated to weigh 100 punds.  Reportedly, the dog had never shown any sign of aggression before yesterday.  The dog has been taken by Animal Control.  It's disposition is currently unknown.  This is not about the dog.  It is no time for shoulda, woulda, coulda...  The dog's owner is reportedly literally suicidal at this point so I cannot allow any finger-pointing here.  It is about a horribly damanged little girl whose life hangs in the balance.

Both of Jayden's parents are disabled.  They are going to need a significant amount of help to pay for what are going to be huge bills for Jayden's care.  Can you help get Jayden back to the beautiful little girl she was before this happened?  I set her campaign to $20000, but in fact I cannot even begin at this time to estimate what her bills are going to be, but I exptect her care will ultimately cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. The family has been advised that Jayden will need many additional surgeries, all of them will be considered cosmetic and all of which the family will be financially responsible in order to put her back to as close as possible to what she was before the attack.  This family is entirely without the resources to accomplish this  without your donations, Jayden will remain scarred for life  I am sure that like me, you would not want to see this adorable little girl have to live with a severely disfigured face.  At this time, her face is not the biggest issue.  Keeping her alive and helping her survive the trauma is the priority.  

I want to put some hurtful rumors to rest here.  The dog was not Jayden's parents' dog. At no time did they leave this little girl alone with the dog - there were two adults in the room when the attack occurred.  Please do not try to lay blame for this and remember that it is about a little girl who has had her life derailed by the injuries she has suffered.  The parents have handled this situation incredibly well given the circumstances.  They are not pointing fingers at anyone and I hope that none of you will either.  They have been through a horrible, traumatic event and need the support of everyone.  They have been at the hospital with Jayden since the 1st of September, have not slept in their own beds in all that time and are exhausted and running on empty.  Rumors only make a bad situation worse.  This campaign is about love - love of a darling little girl who is going to have some big bills.  If we cannot fund her surgeries she is going to look like she looks now for the rest of her life.  If you look at the pictures in the gallery, you will see that there is much that needs to be done.

The dog's owner has no house with homeowner's insurance to cover these bills either.  

We would all like to thank the amazing staff at Strong for their expert help in Jayden's care.  Huge repairs have been made at this time and we are grateful for all of their efforts on her behalf.

*************

Please help us spread the word about this campaign by texting, tweeting, emailing the link to this campaign to everyone you know.  It would also be helpful if you could post it to your facebook page.  Thank you for your help!

*************