SPALDING County, Ga. (CBS46) — A toddler remains in an Atlanta hospital three weeks after she was attacked by a pair of dogs in rural Spalding County.
It’s an experience Jeremey Reach doesn’t really want to remember, let alone talk about. On Aug. 31, the father of two took his daughter, Jolie, outside to play at their home. Reach said he went to the porch to grab his daughter’s jacket when suddenly he heard the two-year-old scream, turned around and saw two dogs attacking her.
“I was scared to death,” Reach recalled. “There were two dogs. One kind of had her by the shoulder, the other by the leg. I chased them off, kicked them and they ran back home.”
Reached said the dogs, believed to be Labradors, belonged to his neighbor. Jolie was badly injured. The toddler suffered scratches and bruises all over her body, including wounds on her hips. One of the wounds was so bad, Jolie has a medical vacuum pump that has be replaced twice a week. Doctors also had to sew her left ear back on.
“The biggest thing is infection,” Reach explained. “With dog bites, the way the doctors tell it, there’s no telling what can get into a wound. And it can get in deep. And even though they try to clean it out, there’s still down in there and that’s the reason we’re still here. They’re trying to keep her hip wound clean.”
Three weeks after the attack, Reach said his daughter is now in good spirits. The toddler is starting to show more of her personality again. The family started a GoFundMe campaign to help with Jolie’s medical bills. As of Wednesday evening, the campaign had reached nearly $30,000.
“I’m just scared of coming home to bills for the next 20 years when I would like to be giving my children a life,” Reach said.
While his daughter continues to make promising progress, Reach is hopeful she’s young enough to forget the traumatic experience.
“Hopefully there won’t be much physical therapy to be done and hopefully we’ll have our little girl back,” he added. “I know her brother misses her.”
Reach doesn’t know why the dogs attacked his daughter. He said animal control has since picked them, but it’s unclear if they will be euthanized.
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