A South Carolina mom of three who has fought injuries that could have claimed her life is now looking at the reality of her life moving forward.
On the morning of Monday, March 21, 2022, 38-year-old Kyleen Waltman was walking to her mom's house in Honea Path from her boyfriend's house when she encountered three dogs on her path. Two were pit bulls and one was a pit bull mix. Kyleen tried to walk by the dogs without interacting with them, but they attacked her. Some time later, a neighbor discovered the dogs attacking Kyleen and managed to shoot his gun in the air to scare them away.
More from LittleThings: Mom Saves 20 Kids From Burning Bus, Ellen Refuses To Accept She Lives Paycheck-To-Paycheck
Sadly, significant damage was done. Kyleen has lost both her arms]to the shoulder, had her colon removed, and still faces the risk of losing her esophagus. She had been sedated since the incident but this week, her sister shared a heartbreaking update from her first time waking up.
The update came from Kyleen's sister, Amy Wynne, on a GoFundMe page to support the family through this tragic time.
"Kyleen has been fully woken up and the doctors told her about her arms but, it caused her a great deal of a anxiety, so they sedated her," she wrote.
"Her blood pressure is still very and she is running a fever of 102+ her oxygen levels keep falling so she's back on the ventilator."
More from LittleThings: Mom Who Makes $250K Per Month On OnlyFans Reads Her Most Hateful, Mean DMs To The World
"Mama says it's like she's giving up. Before ya'll go assuming we as her family are not giving up. The Lord has brought her this far for a reason. Her story is not done," Anne continued.
"Now they have took off everything on the arms that now she can not have regular prosthetics. So here we are trying to figure out how to keep her from thinking negative thoughts about her life. I understand that for 38 years she's had arms and now she doesn't, how she's thinking. She's still fighting."
"Prayers are working and slowly she healing. We just have to wait and allow God and time to do their there. I appreciate all the comments and prayers. Please just keep her and us in your prayers."
Justin Minor was arrested Wednesday and charged with three counts of owning a dangerous animal that attacked and injured a human, rabies control violation, and dangerous animal not permitted beyond premises unless restrained. All the charges are misdemeanors. The dogs were seized by Abbeville Animal Control.
Avery Presley was the neighbor who came across Kyleen being attacked. He was driving his tractor up Ball Road on his way to feed his cows.
"I ain't no hero," he told Index Journal.
"I still feel guilty about not getting there earlier."
Presley cautiously approached, which caused the two of dogs to run off. One stayed and started approaching him. He had a gun with him that he keeps in the event of an emergency. He shot it into the air to scare the dog off, which worked.
Presley called 911. It took officers eight minutes to arrive. Deputies didn't arrive until 18 minutes later. The dog owner's cousin and neighbor, Benjamin Alewine, said Minor was known to take in strays. Alewine said he didn't visit without a PVC pipe to protect himself from the dogs.
"I ain't never seen no dog do that to anyone," he said.
"This is the most awful sight I ever seen, for a dog attack. She didn't have a chance."
The GoFundMe has raised over $190,000 at this time. What lies ahead isn't clear but Kyleen's family does know that with removal of her arm up to her shoulder, she won't be able to use standard prosthetics. There will be a lot of medical care and lifestyle changes needed for Kyleen to get back to life with her three children, and every bit of help counts.
