She just keeps on smiling: Bravery of schoolgirl who lost her foot after being attacked by her own pet dog
- Milly-Anne Hemley, 10, was attacked by pet Staffordshire bull terrier Rory at her home in Northamptonshire
- Surgeons battled for two hours to save her damaged limb, but were eventually forced to amputate her foot and the lower part of her right leg
'Keep smiling': Milly-Anne lost her foot after she was attacked by family pet Rory
A brave schoolgirl who was forced to have her foot amputated after she was savagely attacked by her own pet dog has told how she is determined to 'keep smiling' despite her ordeal.
Milly-Anne Hemley, 10, was so badly injured when Staffordshire bull terrier Rory turned on her out of the blue that surgeons had to remove her foot and the lower part of her right leg.
But determined Milly-Anne, who spent Christmas in hospital following the attack at her home in Northamptonshire and has since been learning to walk on crutches, refuses to feel sorry for herself.
'Everyone calls me a little soldier and everyone says I'm brave - I don't feel brave, I just get on with it and keep smiling,' she said.
Family pet Rory grabbed Milly-Anne's leg when she screamed as the dog attempted to bolt out of the house in Long Buckby when the front door was left open.
The 10-year-old said the dog latched on to her leg and didn't let go.
'I remember my whole body shaking, I was hugging his back and saying: "It's only me, Rory,"' she told the Daily Mirror.
Milly-Anne's brother eventually managed to his sister away from the dog and shut her in the living room for safety, but not before Rory had attacked again, this time biting the little girl's other leg.
She was rushed to hospital where surgeons battled for two hours to save the young girl's damaged limb, but her injuries were too severe and her mother Paula Warren was asked to give her permission to amputate.
Ms Warren, 32, was at work at the time of the incident and had left son Braydon, 15, the eldest of her four children, in charge in her absence.
Brave: Milly-Anne poses for a family snapshot before she was forced to have her foot and part of her leg amputated
The home carer, who said she blames herself for not being there when the dog attacked her daughter, described her horror upon seeing the damage to Milly-Anne's leg in the wake of the incident on December 19.
'It was just gone, it was just a piece of bone,' she said.
Shock: Staffordshire bull terrier Rory had never shown signs of aggression before he savaged Milly-Anne, her family said
Upbeat: Milly-Anne spent Christmas in hospital in the wake of the attack at her home in Northamptonshire on December 19
Ms Warren said Staffordshire bull terrier Rory, who has since been destroyed, had never shown any signs of aggression before the shock attack just days before Christmas.
Milly-Anne will be fitted with a prosthetic limb when her leg is fully healed.
She has kept a diary of her recovery on Facebook and even has a new pet, a kitten she has named Jazz.
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