With lots of support from her community, a little girl in Michigan who was attacked by a dog last year is getting help on her road to recovery.
That girl lost her ears in the attack and is now on her way to getting new ones,
But doctors want her to wait.
It’s been a long recovery for Arial Harrison.
It’s been a little over a year since the little girl was attacked violently by a dog in Cass County.
The attack left her without her ears.
Scars remain on her face and her head wrapped to protect the skin grafts.
Her mother Kendra says it’s been emotional hearing her daughter ask why she can’t wear sunglasses properly.
“She’ll put them on her nose and she’s like, ‘They won’t stay. I don’t have ears,'” mother Kendra Canen said. “And I’m like, ‘you’ll get them, you’ll get them. You’ll have ears.'”
Canen also says she’s concerned how other kids will treat her when she starts school.
“She’ll just look away, she doesn’t like talking to people because they look at her different,” Canen said.
“A girl getting ready to start kindergarten should have to worry about buying new shoes or new clothes or making sure they have enough crayons. And she’s worried about ears,” Cass County Fire Chief Jeff Locke said.
Locke says a pancake breakfast will make sure she doesn’t have to worry.
But he never expected it would raise more than $11,000.
And through other combined fundraising efforts, $23,000 in total have been raised.
Locke says donations have even poured in from across the country.
“A letter from a lady in Arizona wishing her well, put this money towards her,” Locke said.
Kendra says she’s blown away by all the support her daughter has received.
She says she’s been envisioning what Arial will look like with the new ears.
“She’ll look normal, like she did before the attack,” Canen said. “She’ll have something there instead of just holes.”
Although the money has been raised, doctors say Arial must wait over a year before she can get them.
“He says until she’s 5 because then she will understand that she has to take care of them,” Canen said. “That it’s–if you don’t take care of them, they won’t look good and they won’t be any good.”
The family’s insurance had denied funds for the prosthetic ears, calling it a “cosmetic” issue.