'I heard a blood-curdling scream': Paramedic shares terrifying details of son's dog attack
By Merryn Porter |
Paramedic and first-aid educator Nikki Jurcutz is used to raising awareness about the dangers facing youngsters in their own homes, and strives to give carers the confidence to spring into action if faced with an emergency.
As co-founders of Tiny Hearts Education, she and her sister Rachael Waia have devoted their lives to educating parents and caregivers about childhood hazards and first-aid. They often share warnings on their social media accounts and have even developed products to keep children safe.
But not even her own medical training could fully prepare her for when her own child was seriously injured last weekend, and this has prompted her to share a lifesaving tip known as 'Pause and plan'.
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The mother-of-two took to the Tiny Hearts Education Instagram page this week to share a series of photos documenting the serious injury her two-year-old son Wolf suffered last Saturday.
Ms Jurcutz said she was first alerted something was wrong when she heard a blood-curdling scream, followed by her husband Chris yelling for her to "come quick."
"I ran outside to find my sweet little boy profusely bleeding from his face. Our 12-year-old border collie had bitten him," she wrote.
"I grabbed Wolf and pushed his face firmly into my chest to slow the bleeding and ran him inside. I grabbed our first-aid kit. Never have I been more grateful for the fact that we create products that are so damn helpful, and found the dressings."
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She said she quickly ran a few dressings under water and held them against his mouth, adding she did not yet know the extent of the injury or where it was.
"I found a very deep laceration, which I instantly knew required stitches. I gave Wolf the job of holding the dressing over his lip," she said, adding he was "such a brave boy and the job was a brilliant distraction."
After grabbing an ice pack they headed to an emergency department. Wolf was admitted to hospital and underwent plastic surgery to repair the muscle "as the bite had gone completely through."
"As I held his tiny hand as he went under for surgery, I wished I could trade places with him and have never felt guilt like I did in that moment. It's one thing for your child to hurt themselves but another for them to be hurt by your family dog, our first baby," she said, adding it was a "very heartbreaking and complicated situation."
She said they had never fully trusted the dog, Kodi, around their kids, and never left the dog unattended with the children. In fact, her husband was "right there supervising" when the incident happened.
She said she warned her son "an hour earlier about not leaning on or cuddling Kodi as he might bite."
She added the dog was old and suffered severe arthritis, "so when Wolf bounced on him for a hug, Kodi reacted with his natural instincts."
She said she was telling the story "because I share so much of my life" and wanted to "raise awareness through my experience of how quickly things can happen, and even if we can't prevent them, knowing what to do is vital".
"I worked as a paramedic for many years and one of the best things I ever learned was 'pause and plan'," she said.
"In an emergency, even as a trained professional, it's overwhelming, messy, scary and difficult at times to remember where to start. When the emergency is with your own child, all of these emotions are felt tenfold," she said.
"In the moment my boy was bleeding and screaming in pain I felt completely overwhelmed.
"I repeated over and over 'It's OK', but for a few seconds I couldn't figure out what my next step would be. I know, this even happens to me!"
While pacing and holding her son tight she told herself to "take a deep breath, think, what's next?" and those three seconds "was all I needed to stop and plan what I'd do next."
"I assessed the bleeding, the wound, eliminated the need for an ambulance, applied a dressing and used pressure to slow the bleeding," she said.
"The amazing thing was as soon as I was in control, he calmed.
"I've told so many parents that children will mimic you so being calm in an emergency is so important, and this weekend I witnessed that first handกญ but it took me a little to get there.
"So if you're struggling to remember where to start, and the steps we have taught you in our course are failing to come to mindกญ take a deep breath, pause for a few seconds and think about what you need to do.
"Running around flustered will not help, and a few seconds to gain control and think through your plan will mean your little one gets the help they need."
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