Things are getting worst for a South Carolina mother of three who was viciously attacked by neighbors’ dogs.
The 38-year-old Kyleen Waltman was on her way home in Honea Path on 21 March at around 10.30 am when she was mauled by three pit bulls.
According to a GoFundMe page created by another of Waltman’s sisters, Amy Wynne, said that both of her arms were amputated up to the shoulder. It also said that she had to have her colon removed, and may have to have her esophagus removed, as well, because of her injuries.
“We thought her right shoulder was going to be good and they were able to fit it with a prosthetic, well yesterday they found an infection in the bone and had to remove more of the bone. So now she will not be able to have regular prosthetics on either shoulder,” Wynne wrote in an update to the fundraiser.
Recalling what he and his deputies saw after the attack on Waltman in court on Thursday, Abbeville County sheriff’s investigator Lt Jeffrey Hines said her injuries were among the worst he had seen.
“She had bites from the top of her head to the bottom of her feet, including her whole entire body,” Lt Hines reportedly told the court. “It was one of the more gruesome animal attacks that I’ve ever seen in my career.”
He said Waltman, who remains in hospital care, also had “her whole tricep removed and nothing but the bone on her left arm”.
According to a WYFF report, Lt Hines explained how a local farmer stopped to intervene to help Waltman, but one of the three animals attempted to bite him, so he fired his pistol.
Lt Hines said that caused the Pitbulls to run away, and Abbeville County sheriff’s deputies and emergency responders then arrived at the scene and Waltman was taken to hospital.
The sheriff said he later visited her in the hospital and took pictures of her injuries as evidence against Justin Minor, who has been charged with three counts of owning dangerous animals attacking a human, according to WYFF.
He also faces charges on three counts of a rabies violation and allowing dangerous animals off his property, which was holding 11 dogs taken by authorities, Lt Hines said in court.
Waltman spent around seven weeks in hospital after the attack, undergoing several procedures, and has finally returned home after having her shoulder re-grafted, according to Wynne.
“It has been rough and we’ve been trying to get her settled into her new life,” Wynne said in an update. “It’s hard on the family at the moment because we have no outside help, she has been denied for Medicaid and disability. So we have to do it all for her.”
Following the attack, the 38-year-old was placed on a ventilator and life support. On March 29, she underwent surgery because she was running a slight fever and was showing signs of infection.
“She did have a small nub on her right shoulder where she would [have] been able to have a prosthetic but, the infection was in that nub so they had to remove it all the way to the shoulder,” Wynne said.
The sister subsequently said too much tissue had been removed from Waltman‘s shoulders and she would not be able to have regular prosthetics fitted.
To date, the GoFundMe page has raised more than $318,000 dollars, with a goal set for $350,000.
