11-Year-Old Recovers From Lip Reconstructive Surgery
A sleepover went from fun to fatal for Jacklyn Tucker in Palm Beach, Florida.
Tucker who fell off the couch in her sleep said she awoke with a friend's family Jack Russell terrier-English bulldog mix, growling over her.
In hopes the dog would go away, Tucker stated she laid there quietly and closed her eyes but instead the dog whose name is Tanker, attacked her ripping off three-quarters of her upper lip and part of her nose.
The 11-year-old who had extensive reconstructive surgery to her face has undergone what is called a lip switch. Due to the massive blood vessel damage, Tucker’s upper lip could not be salvaged, so doctors borrowed tissue from her bottom lip.
Dr. Drew Schnitt, a plastic and craniofacial surgeon at Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital in Hollywood, Fla, and a fellow plastic surgeon Dr. Christopher Brooks, had to take a wedge from the lower lips, flip it upside down and insert into the upper lip. Schnitt then had to borrow skin from Tucker’s chin in order to reconstruct the damage to her nose.
"I think it was very successful," Schnitt told the Palm Beach Post.
Currently Tucker's mouth is sewn shut in order to give time for the new blood vessels to grow into tissue. Once that occurs, Tucker will go in for a follow-up surgery, which will be the separation procedure.
While Tucker’s blood vessels heal, her family and friends are fund raising money, in order to cover the medical cost, which has already surpassed $70,000.
As for Tanker, he was surrendered to Animal Care and Control and will likely be euthanized.
Tucker, who lives with her father in Royal Palm Beach, was released from the hospital Saturday.
Jennifer Calderon, a family friend stated, "She doesn't want anyone to be mad at her friend, it was the dog's fault."