The toddler who survived being mauled by a Rottweiler on the grounds of a school in Belhar is finally home.
|||It has taken nine operations and a month in hospital, but the toddler who survived being mauled by a Rottweiler on the grounds of a school in Belhar in early March is finally home.
Wearing a gauze bandage around his head, three-year-old Lincoln Nimmerhoudt sits next to his mother at their Belhar home and plays a toy guitar – one of the many gifts he received from well-wishers while bedridden at the Red Cross Children’s Hospital.
The attack happened outside the Perseverance Secondary School as the child was walking with his stepfather. The dog was put down by the SPCA.
Lincoln suffered deep lacerations to his face, scalp and ears and was left fighting for his life.
“We really are quite amazed at how quickly the little one has bounced back,” said Cerenice Nimmerhoudt, Lincoln’s mother. “He’s playing with his friends and his behaviour is quite normal – the way it was before the attack.”
But Nimmerhoudt admits that the attack has left some emotional scarring on her son.
“When a big dog comes on TV, he shouts ‘Eina! It’s going to bite me!’, so we have to change the channel to calm him down,” said Nimmerhoudt. “He definitely remembers the attack.
“A few days ago I overheard him talking about it to one of his little friends – he talked about how his daddy cried while the paramedics were attending to him.”
Lincoln’s family thanked everyone who assisted with his recovery, particularly the Fire and Rescue team at the Belhar fire station.
Lincoln has undergone skin grafting to his face, had reconstructive surgery to his ears, had a plate inserted in his fractured jaw and had splinters of bone removed from his broken nose.
Lincoln will start the final round of skin-grafting surgery on Thursday.
daneel.knoetze@inl.co.za
Cape Argus