ILLINOIS -- Little Maddalyn "Maddie" Nowviock and family pet Smokey played almost daily at her grandma's Stockton home.
Maddie's trusting friendship with her big buddy went terribly wrong March 29, when she crawled up behind him while he was eating and grabbed onto his hindquarters to pull herself to an upright position. Smokey whirled and bit down on her head.
Maddie's surgeons say the dog apparently bit into the baby at least twice, tearing open her left eyelid and an area of her face immediately under her right eye while ripping open her nose. The bites also opened a large laceration on Maddie's right temple and left patterns of teeth marks on both sides of her skull.
"It was the worst morning of my life," said Maddie's mom, Vanessa. "I was in a panic."
Vanessa Nowviock called 911, met crews at the ambulance station in Stockton and went to the hospital in Freeport.
When she arrived at the emergency room, doctors told her Maddie's eye was so swollen that they could not assess the extent of damage.
"They didn't want to touch it, so they gave her a shot of antibiotic and told us they would transport her to Rockford Memorial, or we could," she said. "We jumped in my car; my mom sat in the backseat holding Maddie and I drove. She was covered with blood, and I don't even remember how we got to Rockford."
She said that when they arrived at Rockford Memorial, Maddie's eyes were swollen shut and she had fallen asleep.
"She woke up in Rockford smiling and bouncing on my lap like nothing had happened," Vanessa Nowviock said. "She was so good."
Maddie had surgery and was sent home the next afternoon.
While Maddie was being rushed to the hospital, the family contacted Maddie's dad, Adam, a stainless steel welder who was working on a rig six miles off the Oregon coast. He immediately found transportation back to land, jumped into his car and was at Maddie's side in less than two days after driving straight through.
"We were in constant communication, and I knew when she went into surgery," Adam Nowviock said. "I didn't know how serious her injuries were. I just remember stopping long enough to buy gas and then driving and driving. It took forever."
When he arrived in Rockford, his parents, Vanessa's family and a number of friends were at the hospital, and little Maddie was reveling at all the attention.
"It took 60 stitches and extensive plastic surgery to close her up and repair the damage," Maddie's father said. "We were so afraid, but she is fearless and doesn't seem to remember any of it."
Now, just weeks later, little Maddie is smiling and playing with her dad's cell phone and chewing on their TV remote, seemingly no worse for the wear. The dog was euthanized.
"We were very lucky," Vanessa Nowviock said. "The doctors were wonderful everywhere we went. The ER crew in Freeport cleaned up her face, stabilized her and helped us move on to Rockford. The Stockton ambulance team took us across Highway 20 with sirens blaring and lights flashing, and the surgeons at Rockford Memorial were awesome. We were very fortunate."
(The Telegraph-Herald - April 25, 2011)
