Surgeons Reconstruct Severed Arm Of 9-Year-Old Boy After Family Dog Attack

Austyn Clanton has gone under the knife more than any boy his age.

The 9-year-old boy was arguing with his brother when their pet American bulldog joined the ruckus and mauled his left arm while inside their Beaumont home.

“He started biting, scratching. The American bulldog was shaking this arm up and down, up and down,” Clanton told ABC 13 as he recalled the gruesome moment when he was attacked by the animal.

Clanton was immediately rushed to a local hospital, but was later transferred to Memorial Hermann Children's Hospital in Houston where surgeons worked round the clock to save the severed arm.

“The muscle had really been damaged beyond repair,” said Dr. Phoung Nguyen.

Nguyen and his team of pediatric surgeons claimed that Clanton's arm was “90% gone” when the boy first arrived at the hospital.

Clanton underwent a six-hour surgery where doctors used a portion of his back muscle, particularly the latissimus muscle and “skin that was on top of that muscle” to replace the damaged tissues on his biceps.

While everyone – including Nguyen – thought that Clanton was recovering from his surgery, the boy ran into a life-threatening complication two days later.

The doctor received an emergency phone call where he was advised that Clanton was losing blood due to a torn artery caused by the dog bite, according to KENS5.

“If that tear had happened at home, there's a potential that he would not have made it,” explained Nguyen, adding that Clanton could have lost his arm and, worse, his life.

Again, doctors operated on Clanton. This time around, the specialists had to reconstruct the burst blood vessel. They borrowed veins and arteries from Clanton's leg and stacked “them on top of each other.”

After a series of surgeries, Clanton is now recovering. The road to have full use of his arm, however, will take time.

“We're very hopeful, and so far, things are looking good,” said Nguyen.

As a former Navy corpsman, Austyn's dad, Brad Clanton, had been used to seeing “trauma and chaos,” but admitted that it was a different feeling when he experienced Austyn's life and death situation.

“When it's your kid, you just freeze,” he said.

Brad and his wife Vanessa were more than thankful for the surgeons who had helped saved their son. At the same time, they were proud of Austyn for being brave despite what had happened to him.

“It was really impressive for him to be as chill and calm and just ready,” added Brad.