A man who was horrifically mauled by a dog as a child has sent a message of hope to a five-year-old girl who was attacked by a pitbull cross last week.
US army soldier Evan Mustapick was attacked aged six while playing about with friends and his brother in their neighbourhood in Florida, US.
"The day started like any other day," he told the MirrorOnline.
The children then came across a dog - said to belong to a neighbour who had moved in the day before - and started playing with it.
"I was six years old at the time and in my mind I didn’t see anything wrong with the dogs and hadn’t the slightest inclination the dog would be harmful in any way," he said.
“Chalk that up to the innocence of youth I guess."
The children then decided the dog was thirsty and sought to fetch him some water.
“I’d brought a bowl of water out for the dog but had that gut feeling something was off," Evan said.
"As we all stood around one of the kids asked if I was scared and in my young pride I said 'no, and as I got down on one knee to put the bowl of water in front of the dog I got eye level with it and that’s when it latched on."
Evan was then dragged to the ground and a side of his face was mauled in about three different places.
"I remember wondering why my face was so wet and went to wipe away the sweat," he said.
"I pulled my hand away and it was blood dripping off of my hand, not sweat."
Evan then blacked out and was rushed in an ambulance to the A&E, where he was immediately seen by a plastic surgeon and given 40 stitches to the left side of his face.
His mum Kim Gibson, and who now, like Evan, lives in Colorado Springs, described the terrifying moment she was in the kitchen and heard "blood curdling" calls from her other son Andrew as he ran to tell her what had happened.
She said: "Honestly I never knew that skin could look like that.
“It [dog] got him in about three places and had it been over just a little bit more he would’ve lost his eye."
She recollected the painful time she realised all the nerves in the side of her son's cheek weren't responding.
“I remember him looking up at me and smiling but that side of his face just didn’t work," she said.
“I just choked up because I could see what he didn’t know was going on and I was afraid his face wouldn’t work for the rest of his life. All his nerves had to heal, and they did."
The US family is sharing their story in a bid to give hope to a girl who suffered horrific injuries when she was attacked in a home in Liverpool last Saturday afternoon.
The dog, which is believed to be a pitbull cross, was destroyed and inquiries are ongoing.
The girl's aunt told the Liverpool Echo the dog had attacked her "beautiful" niece while she was at a neighbour's house and "ripped the side of her face off".
According to relatives, the girl - who has been described as a "fighter" - asked her family: "Will the doctors make me beautiful again?"
The US family read about the tragic event when it was published by the MirrorOnline.
Touched by the little girl's traumatic experience, stepdad David Gibson, 62, shared pictures of Evan's extraordinary recovery to the family and give them hope.
Mrs Gibbons said: "My husband saw this and just wanted to be able to say to this little girl: ‘You’re going to be okay’."
The mum-of-three hopes Evan's story gives strength to the five-year-old and her family from across the pond as he called on them to not lose hope as "things do heal".
“To go from me looking at his face not lift on one whole side, to see only one side of his smile work…and then to see him today…
“I want for them to know that she is going to heal, it’s a process but she is going to heal."
The 51-year-old realtor described how she had to hold down her son - who was given local anaesthetic - while they stitched his face up.
"It was so traumatic that the nurse broke down crying," she said.
"At the time it felt like the end of the world and it was really scary and I think the phrase that children are resilient is true."
But speaking of the Liverpool family currently living through the trauma, she said: “They will get through it and it will become a distant memory instead of a trauma.
"Because it was overwhelming to all of us but it is in the past and he healed from it and it’s not the end of the world."
Evan added he did at first fear people would look at him differently because of his scars, but he is "no longer uncomfortable in his own skin".
Sending a message to the five-year-old girl, he said: "As time went on I realised people didn’t see me that way. I was still me. Still beautiful just in my own way.
"I can tell you that I healed much faster than I thought and that my fears of what people thought were mostly in my head as they usually are and nobody treated me any different."
The horrific attack is now something that "is part of me and that I have overcome", the 25-year-old said, before pointing to the "silver lining" of the girl having youth on her side, which allows wounds to heal more quickly.
"I don’t see it as a bad thing, if anything it brings me comfort in knowing that I made it through that," he said.
"All I can really say is it gets better sooner than you think.
"You will be beautiful and there’s beauty in surviving. Wear your scars with pride as they’ve made you stronger."
