Amaya Hess suffered appalling injuries five years ago when she was mauled like a rag doll by a pit bull terrier.
The animal tore apart her ear, eye and nose, and ripped off her scalp, leaving the two-year-old in a coma for three months.
Now, after 56 operations to reconstruct her face, she is making a remarkable recovery and is due to go under the knife again today to repair her right eye.
Her mum, Bobbie Tomlin, said this surgery was special because it was the only procedure Amaya had specifically asked for.
Bobbie said: 'Pulling the eyelid back up off the eye will give her the opportunity to regain her vision after five years. It's huge. She wants it and she's super excited to get it.'
Amaya, from Indianapolis, said: 'I said, mummy, "I want a new eye".'
She said she wanted to get her eye repaired more than the surgery she was originally supposed to get, which would have reconstructed her ear.
In 2006, Bobbie was walking Amaya to the park in a [stroller] when the pit bull got loose from a neighbour's home and grabbed the toddler.
Bobbie said she's not angry anymore about the attack that changed their lives forever.
But she said she will not take Amaya to parks or neighborhoods where dogs aren't on leashes.
'Amaya is not as scared of dogs as I am because she was asleep when it happened,' she said.
'Our life changed and I can't say I would change it back. I've learned that at two years old, my daughter could have been taken away from me and I could have never had her back and I fought for her and she's still here.
'She puts a smile on my face every day,' she said.
A website has been set up for updates about Amaya's recovery and information about how to donate to help with her medical bills. visit Amayahess.org.
(Daily Mail UK - Aug 4, 2011)
