Kelcee-Marie Ford is just 14 years old and just over a year ago she was attacked by a dog. It has left her with both mental and physical scars and no feeling in her lower arm. As Kelcee continues her recovery, which has left her unable to attend school full-time, she has decided to share her story to show the impact that dog attacks can have.
It has taken Kelcee over a year to feel comfortable telling her story as she recovers mentally and physically from the attack, which took place in a house in Ely, Cardiff. She says the dog, a Staffordshire Bull Terrier, latched onto her arm for over ten minutes, leaving her with severe blood loss and needing two and a half hours of emergency surgery.
Speaking about the attack, which took place on Tuesday, April 5 2022, Kelcee said she "didn't know what to do" or how to get the dog to release her. She said she was petting the dog when it attacked her.
Kelcee said: "I don’t know what happened but he just went for my arm. I didn’t know what to do so I went on to the sofa…I was kicking him in the face to try and get him off."
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Describing the pain, she said: “It felt like my arm just kept on getting squished and squished until it couldn’t anymore and warm from the blood."
Kelcee spent two nights in the University Hospital of Wales recovering from the attack and then had weekly appointments for eight months to treat the wounds. Alongside physiotherapy, as Kelcee temporarily lost the use of her middle finger, this meant sometimes Kelcee was visiting the hospital three times a week.
Now Kelcee has no feeling in her lower arm, from elbow to wrist, and has not yet returned to school full time, instead going in once or twice a week. Kelcee's experience left her with mental health issues and she was unable to leave the house for a while after the attack.
Currently recovering, Kelcee said: “[I'm] still not mentally great about it all. At the start it was a lot worse, even if I looked at a dog it would all come back and I would be reminded of it all and everything would come back.” At points, Kelcee says she stopped eating and she received counselling from the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service and her school, Cardiff West Community High School.
The attack left Kelcee terrified of dogs, she said: “I didn’t want to be around dogs, if there was a dog on one side of the street even if it was further ahead I would have to cross to the other side because I couldn’t walk past it.” Kelcee would also cry and have panic attacks seeing dogs and had to build up to leaving the house on her own, first going out with family and friends.
Now Kelcee is more comfortable around smaller dogs and dogs she knows but is still uncomfortable near big dogs. She said: "It is more with ones that look like the dog that bit me, I’m more cautious around because it reminds me of what the other one did to me."
Kelcee also tries to avoid areas like beaches and open spaces where dogs are more likely to be let off the leash, she said: “I don’t really want to go because it could come up to me...if the dog looks similar or looks more aggressive then I do try and avoid them.”
Speaking about why she decided to share her story, Kelcee said: “I know how bad it was for me and how much it affected me and I wouldn’t want that for someone else or even someone that was younger than me.” Kelcee believes that people around dogs that have attacked people before should be told of the dog's previous attacks and certain breeds should require licences to own.
She is hoping to return to school full-time and is sitting her GCSEs next year with ambitions to become a teacher. For more Cardiff news you can sign up to the newsletter here.
South Wales Police said: "Police were called to reports of girl being attacked by a dog in Caerau, Cardiff, at around 3.15pm on Tuesday, April 5, 2022. A 37-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of having a dog dangerously out of control in a public place and is on bail pending further enquiries."
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