A boy suffered devastating injuries after a babysitter's dog savaged his face - but no one called an ambulance for an hour.
Tristin Pruitt, 31, and iron worker Jeff Pruitt, 33, from Walbridge, Ohio, US, left their son Liam, 5, and youngest child Knox, 2, at the house of his babysitter to wait for the morning school bus while she attended an ultrasound.
However, when the the babysitter's husband, Jeff, decided he wanted to introduce Liam to the dog, it lashed out from his grip and brutally attacked Liam's face, leaving him bleeding and in agony.
Mum Tristin received a phone call from the babysitter informing her that Liam was at the emergency room after the whole of the right-hand side of Liam's face was swollen and covered in blood where the dog had mauled him.
His right eye was bleeding and in need of extensive surgery, his cheeks were punctured by teeth, and his lips and throat were heavily damaged and bleeding.
It took eight nurses to calm Liam enough that they could clean his tear duct which had been severely damaged.
After cleaning, it took another three-and-a-half hours of sutures and plastic surgery to close all the wounds on his face and neck.
After the initial surgery and time in hospital, Tristin and Jeff learned the full extent of Liam's gruelling recovery process.
He require further plastic surgery, steroid injections and laser treatment, but the success of his healing relies heavily on staying out of direct sunlight.
Liam will need three to five years of possible treatment and in the meantime, Tristin and Jeff are paying for the medical bills out of their own pocket.
As it was a third party that was at fault for the injuries, the insurance company claimed it was 'similar to a car accident' and it was the job of the other party's insurance to cover the costs.
The cost of pain medication alone at the first two hospitals came to over £10,000.
Mum Tristan said: "When I saw his actual injuries my world shattered. I pulled into the hospital and the babysitter pulled in after me. She was covered in blood and Liam was alone in the back of her van screaming.
"While I was trying to get Liam into the hospital and find Knox, she chatted away to me like nothing was wrong.
"She told me she hated the dog and it was the third time it had bitten a child but her husband wouldn't let her get rid of it. I didn't say a word to her, I just grabbed my baby and ran.
"Liam had no idea how bad it was and I held it together for him. I played it very calm and soothed him but on the inside I was terrified.
"I was so angry at myself for allowing her to babysit and never asking if she had a dog because I never let people with dogs babysit.
"I didn't cry or let Liam see me upset until they took him away for surgery. When they took my boy, I couldn't comfort him anymore and I lost it. I was terrified and livid, I was so angry that these three adults had put my baby in this danger.
"They left him to lie on the floor bleeding for nearly an hour while they cleaned - the babysitter is a surgical technician with medical experience so she must have known that it was bad.
"To rub salt into my wounds, when Liam was lying there on the operating table the babysitter and her husband were making posts on Facebook about how they were 'living their best life'."
The dog had previously attacked two other children - despite this, they still kept it at the property and did not alert Liam's parents to this fact.
"In between my emotions for Liam, I was calling my other kids and trying to hold it together for them too.
"It was Knox's first time with a babysitter and he'd been a witness to this attack and now his mummy hadn't come home - I was so worried about how it would affect him.
"It was during this time that I found out via a text from the babysitter that the dog was unvaccinated so Liam was at risk of a number of diseases including rabies.
"I was so angry at the whole situation that when I found out the dog was unvaccinated I wasn't so upset until I had to take Liam to get his shots. It was like reopening the terror that he'd just endured.
"Even then, finding out the dog had bitten two other children before Liam and they still chose to try and introduce the dog to Liam is what infuriated me the most."
After being taken to the local emergency room, he was transferred by ambulance to Toledo's Children's Hospital and then by life flight ambulance to Mott Children's Hospital at the University of Michigan.
Since the incident, Liam has developed intense mood swings and a fierce temper, lashing out angrily by throwing things, screaming and growling.
For more information, or to donate to Liam's fundraiser, visit www.gofundme.com/f/liams-fight-after-dog-attack
