Man is disfigured after breaking up fight between family dogs. Now he awaits final surgery to remove forehead flap
Dustin Low said his injuries came from a five-minute fight between the family dogs
NEED TO KNOW
- Dustin Low has undergone two facial reconstructions after intervening in a fight between his family dogs
- His family is raising money because a private surgeon’s fees are not covered by hospital financial aid
- The final procedure could reduce his risk of infection from incisions that remain open
The family of a man who was disfigured after breaking up a fight between the family dogs is raising money to remove the final “forehead flap” that remains on his face.
Dustin Low was severely injured after stepping in to stop his dogs from fighting for “a matter of five minutes total of actual action time,” the Cherokee County, Ga., man told FOX10-TV. “The rest was just trying to gather myself, my breath, try to control the bleeding.”
At first, he didn’t realize he was injured so severely. As his wife, Chelsea Low, told the outlet, “He came downstairs and he’s like, ‘I need help with the pets.’ And I was like, ‘No, you need a hospital.’ ”
That’s when Dustin’s medical journey began: He’s since undergone two facial reconstructions, but his progress has been halted as the family tried to raise funds for his third and final surgery. As the family explains in a GoFundMe, there’s a “massive catch” with his needed surgery, as “private surgeon fees do not fall under hospital financial aid.”
The surgery, he says, will “get rid of this piece,” referring to the skin stitched to the top of his nose. As he explained, it’s “the rest of my forehead flap,” which was grafted to his face during the first surgery to recreate his damaged nostril.
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But as Dustin told FOX10-TV, it’s not just about his appearance. Since the incisions are still “open,” without the surgery, “it’s always going to be prone to infection.”
As for the family dogs, Chelsea said they’re still at home. “It was a mistake. It was a freak accident,” she told the outlet. “They did not want to harm him.”
