An 11-year-old South Florida girl is recovering at the hospital after a dog mauled her face.
Jacklyn Tucker underwent one of several procedures this week at Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital for reconstructive surgery of her lip and the area around her mouth.
Doctors had expected the latest surgery to last 12 hours, but were glad to keep it under 4. They say reconstructive surgery to a child's face is pretty challenging because you only see lip damage like Tucker suffered in cancer patients, not healthy 11-year-old girls.
"In one more operation she'll end up looking very reasonable but currently her upper and lower lips are sewn together," Dr. Drew Schnitt said. "So initially it doesn't look as it will soon."
Tucker's father, Jack Tucker, stays by his daughter's side every minute possible. He says she's staying positive and wants to get back to normal.
"She's been staying positive, she tells everybody what happened," he said. "She's been texting her friends and she don't wanna be here, but she has to eat to get out."
A Jack Russell terrier-English bulldog mix bit her while she was staying at a friend's house in Royal Palm Beach last month.
"She's holding up stronger than me," her father said.
A special account to help the family with unexpected medical costs has been set up at Chase bank under the Jacklyn Tucker Trust Fund.
