Moments later, she runs down the sidewalk, the shoelaces of her sneakers untied. Her older brother follows. There’s no clear reason to run. It’s what 7-year-olds do.
Nearly a year and a half after being severely injured in an attack by two pit bulls, Zainabou – as best she can – tries to live as if the incident never happened.
The injuries she suffered in the June 2014 attack were devastating: She lost her tongue, most of her teeth and a third of her jaw bone. Her face was ripped apart and had to be reconstructed. She has undergone at least a dozen surgeries. And more await.
She eats and drinks through a feeding tube into her stomach. Another tube in her throat helps her breathe. She can’t open her mouth. Her father, Abdoulaye, said she will almost certainly need the feeding tube for the rest of her life.
Still, Abdoulaye, a native of Senegal, hopes for a normal life for his daughter.
“I pray to God every day that she get(s) back to (a) normal life, like everybody,” he said.
Speaking remains complicated for Zainabou. The second-grader at College Hill Fundamental Academy, a Cincinnati Public Schools magnet school, is learning sign language. She also has a computer tablet she can use to communicate.
But what she wants to do is talk. She is able to utter mostly muffled sentences, despite missing so much of her mouth.
During interviews last week at her East Price Hill home as well as Mt. Echo Park with her father and three siblings, Zainabou could be heard, at certain moments, speaking clearly.
“Can I hold it?” she asked one of her siblings about a toy, each word nearly fully formed.
Other times, her 10-year-old brother, Moustapha, helped translate.
Her favorite subject in school, she said, is math.
Zainabou’s favorite movie: the Disney film, “Frozen.” She watched it repeatedly during the two months she spent recovering last summer at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
When she grows up, she wants to be a dancer.
Last year, she took ballet lessons. She also likes tap dance. She is now learning to play the cello.
Back to school
Abdoulaye said his daughter enjoys school. She is, he said, “very, very smart.” Her last report card: All A’s and one B.
In the fall of 2014, in the days before she was released from the hospital, she was given two options: A teacher could come to her house or she could go to school.
She chose going to school.
Arrangements have been made. A nurse rides the bus with Zainabou, attends class with her. The nurse hooks up her feeding tube at lunch and rides the bus home with her.
The nurse brings equipment in case Zainabou’s breathing tube gets clogged.
“She takes care of Zaina, like her own daughter,” Abdoulaye said.
Monica Battle, principal at College Hill Fundamental Academy, described Zainabou as a happy, kindhearted girl, who also is an outstanding student, focused on schoolwork and learning.
“I have seen her have such courage. She’s honestly a ray of light in the way she just takes on every day,” Battle said. “She’s been an inspiration to children and adults alike.”
For Zainabou, each day is a challenge.
At night, she has to be hooked up to a breathing machine.
The act of sneezing can be dangerous because it can clog her breathing tube. The family has a suction device to clear that out.
Despite the progress she’s made, communicating remains difficult. There are times her father, mother or three siblings don’t understand what she’s trying to say.
That can bring her to tears.
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| One of Irby's other pit bulls |
She also must endure people staring at her reconstructed face and scars – even as she doesn’t remember the attack, itself. She will turn away or hide.
“She has (a) hard life,” Abdoulaye said.
In God's hands
Abdoulaye also said he’s not angry about what happened. That’s not the kind of person he is.
“Everything that happen(s),” he said. “I know it come from God. God decides.”
He is more disappointed that the owner of the pit bulls and the owner's mother never apologized, expressed sympathy or checked on Zainabou’s condition. They lived only a few houses away.
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| Irby's mother Volores White lies and denies knowing about the drug dealing going on inside her home or that the pit bulls were to guard the drug house. |
That’s the reason, Abdoulaye said, he and his wife filed a lawsuit against Zontae Irby and his mother, Volores White. A judge earlier this month upheld a $7.5 million judgment against Irby and White.
That money, however, is not considered collectible. White and Irby, who is now in prison for marijuana trafficking, have few assets. Money wasn’t the reason for the lawsuit, anyway.
It was the principle of the thing.
"It's not nice to do that to people," Abdoulaye said about Irby and White.
The family moved out of Westwood where the attack happened. Earlier this year, they moved into the house in East Price Hill.
Abdoulaye, who drives a taxi, considers Zainabou’s increasing ability to speak, a miracle. He hopes for more miracles.
“If she (is) ever able to eat again – I don’t know,” he said. “Thank you, God.”
(Cincinnati.com - Nov 15, 2015)
Related:
- Pit bull mauls 6-year-old: 'They had to basically put her face back on'
- Dramatic dashcam footage shows moment cops saved girl, 6, from attack by savage pit bulls outside her home
- Owner of dogs that mauled 6-year-old girl indicted
- County attempting to seize home of dog owner in pit bull attack
- Why is it so difficult to charge owners of vicious dogs after attacks?
- Should pit bull ban be reinstated?
- Girl attacked by dogs continues long recovery
- Zainabou Drame, mauled by pit bulls, probably won't see any money from $7.5 million lawsuit judgment
Note that Irby's mother had the audacity to say she was glad Zainabou is "okay". This is the pit bull fan's idea of life -- you're perfectly fine with the catastrophic injuries as long as you're not dead.
ReplyDeleteNo child should ever have to live like this because of some worthless dog and it's POS owner.
ReplyDelete