WARNING: Graphic photographs
Adelaide lady Patricia Thackrah, 78, has undergone a marathon 18-hour surgical procedure to avoid wasting her foot after it was mauled by her neighbour’s canine.
Her husband David Thackrah mentioned he thought his spouse was going to die when he noticed how viciously she was attacked on Wednesday afternoon at their Novar Gardens home.
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WATCH VIDEO ABOVE: Grandmother undergoes emergency surgical procedure to avoid wasting her leg following canine attack
“I’ve never seen anything like it. You could almost see through her foot,” he mentioned.
“The skin on the top of the foot’s been pulled down and also ripped at the back”
The canine, believed to be a staffy cross, had come by the neighbour’s backyard mattress within the entrance yard and latched onto Patricia’s foot.
David screamed for assist and mentioned he didn’t know what to do.
“I was reaching down to move the dog and not getting anywhere because if I pulled back on the dog, I was pulling back on her foot,” he mentioned.
Another neighbour dropped two pot crops on the canine, hoping it might launch Patricia’s foot, but it surely didn’t work.
“He picked up a rock and hit the dog with that, but it didn’t make much difference, and then he sort of backbooted the dog with the heel of his boot and the dog came off,” David mentioned.
On Thursday, Patricia underwent surgical procedure on the Royal Adelaide Hospital to avoid wasting her foot and can spend the subsequent six weeks in rehabilitation.
“She still had feeling in her foot (after the attack) and underneath her foot and she was still able to move her toes, so that told the surgeon that there was something there to work on,” David mentioned.
The City of West Torrens is investigating the incident and has impounded the canine.
-with reporting by Mitchell Sariovski
