New Type of Surgery Used For Dog Attack Victim Paula Ybarra
New Stent ProcedureMinneapolis, MN - Ten months after a vicious dog attack and hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical costs, Paula Ybarra feels she has a new chance at life. During the attack, one of her vertebral arteries was torn and failed to heal correctly. The tear in this artery caused Paula strokes and could have lead to an aneurysm.
On January 9th 2008, surgeons put a stent normally used in the heart into her neck. This is the first time a stent has been used in this way. Just one day after the successful surgery, Paula headed home to her three young girls. Hopefully after this 10 month struggle, Paula will have a new chance at life that she can share with her family and friends.
06/29/07: Three Months After the Violent AttackAfter the attack, doctors had to put Paula into a medically-induced coma for three days. She spent several more weeks in the hospital. She says she began to be able to whisper words a little more than a month ago. She says doctors finally took "the tube" out of her neck this past Wednesday.
She says even though her medical bills are now hundreds of thousands of dollars, she wants those who have stepped up to support her know how much she appreciates it. The financial hardship caused her to sell her home. She and her three daughters now live with other family members.
03/28/07: Woman Attacked by Friend's BulldogMinneapolis, IN - A Twin Cities mother was downgraded after surgery last night for wounds suffered in a vicious dog attack. A bulldog attacked Paula Ybarra in her Minneapolis neighborhood as she helped a friend work on his house. The attack nearly killed the single mother of three.
Ybarra and her kids were enjoying a warm spring night Monday at a friend's house helping him paint. The attack occurred suddenly when she stepped inside the house to help one of her children use the bathroom and grab her purse. She was getting her family ready to leave, said her bother Tom Provost.
That's when a 160-pound American bulldog named Bo Bo attacked Ybarra. The dog bit into her neck cutting a hole in her windpipe and damaging a major artery and her voice box. Merlin, a 65-pound pit bull, was also in the room. By the time rescue workers arrived Ybarra had stopped breathing. She was rushed to the Hennepin County Medical Center.
The owner of the dog, Tom Mohrbacker, said, "I've never experienced anything like this in my life." He said the 5-year-old dogs were like his kids, but he decided to euthanize both of them anyway. He added that Bo Bo had become more aggressive in the last year. In December 2006, Bo Bo bit the shoulder of a child. At that time animal investigators warned Mohrbacker the dog was trouble.
Donations can be sent to any U.S. Bank in the name of Paula Ybarra.
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