A grandmother who had her face chewed off by her dog can
finally see again after 100 operations to restore her sight. Grandmother Wendy
Hamriding knocked herself unconscious when she fell down the stairs and woke in
agony two hours later covered in blood. Her dog Cassie, a Rhodesian Ridgeback
cross, had desperately tried to rouse her - then became more frantic in its
efforts.
Unable to curb her natural instincts, the dog began nibbling
Wendy's bloodied face until it had eaten her right eye and the bone around the
socket.
Mrs Hamriding, 53, who lives alone, could still see out of
her left eye but had been so badly mauled she lost her remaining sight during
extensive plastic surgery and skin grafts.
She remained blind for two years while she underwent a
series of complex operations known as 'tooth-in-eye' surgery to restore sight
in her left eye.
The procedure - osteo-odonto-keratoprothesis - is a
two-stage procedure which uses one of the patient's canine teeth.
It is removed, shaped and drilled to allow the implantation
of an artificial corneal device known as an optical cylinder which is then
implanted into the eye.
Mrs Hamriding now has tunnel vision in her left eye and has
seen her two sons and two grandchildren for the first time since the attack in
December 2011.
Despite her dog being put down, Mrs Hamriding says she owes
her life to it because it saved her from an early grave through alcoholism.
Since the incident Wendy says she has kicked the bottle and
is now devoting her life to helping alcoholics and heroin and cocaine addicts.
She believes she was weeks away from dying as a result of
her own addiction when she fell down the stairs at her home in Preston,
Lancashire, after downing a full bottle of vodka.
Wendy said: 'Cassie saved my life and I would rather be
blind for life than dead. Before this happened, I was weeks away from dying as
a result of drink.
'I was drunk from the moment I woke up and would stay drunk
all day. I would even wake up during the night to have a drink. I was dying. I
knew alcohol was killing me, but I could not stop drinking.
'I lost my eye and I lost my dog, but it was the best thing
that could have happened.'
She added: 'She didn't just eat my eye. she ate the bone
around my eye socket too.
'I was in hospital for three months and they reckoned if
she'd done it on the left hand side where my brain is I wouldn't have survived.
'They had to rebuild a lot - the palate was taken out of my
mouth to rebuild my eye socket. I had over 100 operations.'
Wendy was taken to the Royal Preston Hospital where plastic
surgeons re-built her face using flesh from her stomach and a skin graft from
her leg.
Although she could initially see out of her left eye the
skin grafts left her blind and she remained that way for almost two years.
Wendy, whose sons are aged 33 and 19, explained: 'The
problem was that the skin they had used was too coarse and was damaging the
sight I had left.'
Consultant Mark Vose referred Wendy to Brighton-based
specialist Professor Christopher Liu who makes false corneas using the
'tooth-in-eye' surgery.
Wendy said: 'When they first told me that my tooth was going
to be put into my eye to make me see, it sounded like something from of a film.
'But I trusted Mr Vose and his team and was willing to give
it a try. It sounds so surreal, but it really does work.'
Wendy is overcome as she recalls the moment she was able to
see grandchildren Lily, 11, and Josh, ten, once more.
She said: 'It was so emotional. I can see my sons again, and
I have been able to see my grandchildren's faces for the first time in two
years.
'Being able to see again after being blind is so amazing.
Words cannot describe how wonderful it is.'
She added: 'Since the accident, I haven't touched a drop of
alcohol. I know some people will be surprised and shocked to hear me say this,
but I am glad this happened to me and that my dog ate half my face, as at least
it stopped me drinking.
'My job is now working with alcoholics and heroin and
cocaine addicts. After what happened to me I want to help people with
addictions, because I don't want anyone else to go through what I did.
'I am so lucky to have had my life saved when I was so close
to dying as a result of alcohol, and I am even luckier to have got my sight
back.
'Even if I hadn't got any vision back, I would sooner be
blind than drunk.'
In defence of her dog, a little mongrel who she had owned
for 10 years, Wendy insists: 'Cassie did not do it as something vicious.
'Even though I could see the appalling damage she had done
to my face, I knew she had inadvertently saved my life.
'She was just trying to wake me up and had been nibbling at
my face, but had gone too far. Sadly, she had to be put down because she had
tasted blood.'
Mrs Hamriding pictured in 2008 with her son's dog, Butch - which did not carry out the attack - and granddaughter Lily
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