A single mother who had part of her cheek torn off when she was attacked without warning by a friend’s dachshund has said her “life has been ruined” and her self-esteem has been “absolutely destroyed” by the scar left by the dog. dog left behind. Kelly Allen, 45, from Swansea, was enjoying a few drinks at a friend’s house last month when their “very friendly” dog suddenly changed position and clung to her face.
The dog refused to loosen his grip until he tore off a large chunk of her cheek to eat it, leaving Kelly with an open wound that required five and a half hours of plastic surgery and more than forty stitches. The sausage dog was removed from the building by the police and later put down.
Kelly is seeking damages after learning the dog had allegedly already attacked two people, but this could take several years. The ordeal still haunts Kelly, who regularly wakes up crying during the night and is unable to return to work at a contact center for the travel company Tui due to the trauma and her physical appearance.
She now struggles to leave the house without being accompanied by either of her two sons – Fletcher, 19, and Cooper, 18 – and the £350 statutory sick pay she receives every month is not enough to cover her bills and costs to cover subsistence expenses. To help her stay afloat, Kelly relies on her family, and her sister Stacey, 43, has launched a fundraising campaign that has received more than £1,000 in donations.
“I can’t get out of bed and I’ve been crying in my sleep because I feel his teeth in me,” Kelly said. “I have a horrible scar on my face. It ruined my life because it will never be the same again.
“I now have to buy camouflage make-up for people with facial disfigurements – something I never thought I would have to do. I’m a single mother and I can’t afford my electricity and gas most weeks – it just seems so unfair.”
Kelly had gone to a friend’s house for drinks on Friday, March 15. Her friend, who she declined to name, had a pet dachshund, which showed no signs of aggression when Kelly arrived around 9:30 p.m.
“He was very friendly and didn’t show any signs of being an aggressive dog,” she said. “He lay on his back to massage his stomach and put his head on my lap a few times.”
But later that evening, Kelly was sitting on the kitchen floor, leaning against one of the countertops, when the dog’s behavior suddenly changed. When she looked away for a split second, the dog pounced and sunk its teeth into her cheek.
“I turned my head to the back door, where my friend was standing,” Kelly said. ‘He didn’t bark or growl or make any noise, he just jumped and clung to my face.
“He then started to romp and shook his head back and forth. I could feel his teeth deep into my cheek – I still get flashbacks now.
Kelly remembers repeatedly shouting “get him off” as blood started streaming down her face. Another friend rushed into the kitchen and grabbed the dog’s collar, but its jaws were locked and wouldn’t let go.
“The only reason he got out was because he ripped that piece of meat off and ate it,” she said. “He didn’t let go, he pulled it off and I felt the skin tear.”
As Kelly stumbled to her feet, the dog bit her again, this time on the arm. Luckily she was able to break free and run out of the room.
“I’ve never had so much blood,” she added. “I looked in her mirror that was right in front of me and thought ‘sh*t, I’m in trouble’.”
They immediately called 999 but were told there was a significant wait. Fearing she would “bleed to death”, Kelly called a friend who had not been drinking with them and asked for a lift to an accident and emergency at Morriston Hospital.
“They numbed the area and scrubbed the wound with what looked like a Brillo pad because of all the bacteria that are in dogs’ mouths,” she said. “They leaned me over a sink and scrubbed, scrubbed, scrubbed, scrubbed, scrubbed… it was a pain.
“Then they poured water on me for five minutes, it felt like I was being waterboarded. It was horrible.”
With her wound bandaged, Kelly was told she could go home and wait for the plastic surgery team to contact her. At 7:50 a.m. she received a call from the hospital telling her to “come back immediately” because she needed surgery.
“I had a meeting with the plastics team, who explained what they were going to do,” she said. “They would take a piece of skin from my neck and transplant it onto my face.”
Kelly spent five and a half hours on the operating table before waking up with a bandage attached to her face and an eight-inch scar on her collarbone. In total, she needed more than 40 stitches: 36 on her chest and six on her arm. The ordeal has taken a heavy toll on her mental health and affected her self-confidence.
“My self-esteem has been absolutely destroyed and I don’t go out anymore,” Kelly said. “If it wasn’t for my close friends and family, I don’t know where I would be right now.
“I can’t go to the shops anymore unless my son comes with me. I’m just not living my life.”
Since the attack, she has been unable to return to work.
“I can’t go back to work because I can’t deal with people, I just can’t do it,” she said. “I can’t concentrate and I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
The incident has also put a lot of strain on Kelly’s finances as she only receives £350 a month in statutory sick pay. “My employers have been wonderful and supportive,” she said.
“I am now making a legal claim, but that could take up to two years and in the meantime I have no income. I am not entitled to anything else because I am still working and I cannot give up my job to get income support because then I will lose my job. So I’m in a very difficult situation right now.”
To help pay her bills, Kelly’s sister has launched a fundraiser on GoFundMe, which has already received more than £1,000 in donations. It turns out this wasn’t the first time the dog attacked someone.
Kelly said she did not want to call the police, but they were called after hospital staff saw the severity of her wounds. The dog was later removed and put down after being taken to a training center in Cardiff, Kelly said.
“I have since found out that the dog had been attacking other people,” she said. “The people around me were great.
“It is thanks to them that I still wake up every day. I don’t think anyone should have to go through something like this alone.”