"It's time to show who I am now": Dog sitter recovering after losing face in horrific dog attack

this next story begins with a horrific tragedy and that is a word horrific but it's not about that our lead national correspondent david becknow is here because david i heard you say it's really about strength it's about love and most importantly it's about hope bingo bingo good morning gail first a warning part of the story we're about to show you is hard to watch may not be suitable for all children but this is a story about what happened to 22 year old jacqueline duran a college student and an experienced dog sitter in north texas she was mauled by two dogs we have never before seen video of her rescue which saved her life but not before the dogs changed her face forever i want you to know we spent the last two months following this story her recovery she's got a long road ahead but she said to us i have a story to tell and i want people to hear it and she hopes you'll listen jacqueline duran's face was nearly erased two days before christmas and one day before her 22nd birthday it happened on a dog-sitting trip gone horrifically wrong in the dallas texas suburb of kappel i see her feet right there first responder body camera video shows the two dogs who attacked her holding the police at bay leaving jacqueline agonizing for help we can't make entry because of the dogs the dogs in the instant after she opened the door we're not like the lovely dogs jacqueline said she had met once before sam can you hear me are you the only one inside is the big dog right next to you lucy a german shepherd mix and bender a boxer pit bull pinned her down and tore off her nose ears lips and cheeks to the bone so the dogs dragged you from the front door to the living room yes what do you remember about where they were attacking you uh i like my arm my face the most especially when i felt the skin hanging from my face i was just i thought i was gonna die from the time police arrived 37 minutes passed before first responders felt safe going in a medic rescued jacqueline and ran out with her she was rushed to a trauma center in grave condition she had lost 30 percent of the blood in her body it was a blessing really that she was even found alive at all when the dogs rushed her the door was left open and that triggered a security alarm at the home of justin and ashley bishop have you had any problems with dogs zero the bishops told police the dogs came into their home from rescue organizations i have three kids you know one's three years old no no history violence none but the words crazy dogs on a sign about a sleeping baby hanging on their front door is one indicator of negligence that is according to a lawsuit filed by chip brooker jacqueline's attorney the warning on the front door to me i think suggests that the bishops knew that both of these dogs had acted aggressively to people arriving at the front door you're trying to build this case of negligence what do you have to prove that what we have to prove is an examination of the dogs that we did after this attack which we believe shows that the dogs were dangerous and had vicious propensities the bishops turned down a request by cbs news for an interview but in a statement they said they were heartbroken about what happened the police videos show how cautious officers were even when trying to contain the dogs particularly bender once at the hospital emergency surgery lasted for seven hours before jacqueline's parents john and shirley duran heard from one of the doctors she had to be resuscitated on the trauma table multiple times describe for me the moment you first saw her after the attack i was just glad to see her alive her whole face was totally bandaged they had her in a deduced coma for over a week it must have been somewhat deceiving because the bandages really covered up the worst of it it did it really did i just kept telling her that she was a miracle and that she was going to be restored she will be when we met jacqueline seven weeks after she had been in the hospital doctors had grafted skin from her buttocks and her forehead to start the process of rebuilding her face i feel like i didn't ask her this so i think that it's time to show who i am now and i can't be scared of it what are you hoping to get across with this interview i want for dog owners to know their animals and be able to communicate with their sitters how they are these are the same dogs who you had met a week earlier that you said were lovely yeah you know lovely one week and killers the next how do you square the two honestly i'm speechless they don't change their attitude from the time that i eat them to the time that i go there for the first time jacqueline was released from the hospital after 60 days leaving there was a brave and spirited 22 year old woman deserving of the applause that she got from the doctors and nurses when she got home first responders gave her a champions welcome i really appreciate it [Applause] her dogs were even waiting and so was her boyfriend jacqueline doesn't want to be seen as a victim but rather an example and that may be why she didn't hide the scars that showed the more than 800 bites on her body so when i first interviewed you you could open your mouth about five millimeters yes now you're up to 21 millimeters yes we've had the benefit of watching you heal over the course of a month and it is notably different better are you seeing that yourself yeah i have seen and what does that do just for your own spirits i think it it really lucy compared to where i was yeah because i just felt so helpless in the hospital and being at home i knew i was gonna heal more here than i could at the hospital therapy is a full-time job now her mouth is stretched one millimeter at a time so that she can eat more countless surgeries are to come when you hear one to three more years of surgeries is that daunting for you it's not fun to think about but i also think out how amazing the doctors are and so i'm putting it in their hands to help me come on you should know that there's a lot of hope in jacqueline and her family in fact in looking to the future guess what there is a place in her heart still to love dogs she'd been dog sitting for seven years and still dreams of working with animals the last we spoke you mentioned maybe something involving animal welfare i was thinking dog training because that's dog training yes that's my dream but i'm not sure where life is gonna take me yet she has her senses now she can walk she can talk she can smell she can hear and she can see she's gonna be fine i think hi in addition to the love from her family there is 24 year old nathan who she has dated for three years he just recovered from cancer and when he was going through treatment jacqueline often drove him and stayed with him now i'm so grateful that i get the opportunity to show the same level of love and care that she showed me during that time i'm glad that i get the chance to i'm glad that i get to be there for her jacqueline told us she'd like to hear from the bishops she has not she said david i would like an apology she says i haven't even been paid in full for the service that i went there for i should tell you that the bishops told us in their statement that they would never put anyone in harm's way and a texas judge ordered that both of the dogs be euthanized

Channel: CBS Mornings

Views: 9,759,960

Keywords: video, cbs, news, attack, crime, dogs, violent, mauled, dog sitting, reconstructive surgeries

Id: 7CQyM1ZXkYs

Length: 8min 33sec (513 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 16 2022