6-year-old girl may never smile again after needing 1,000 stitches from being mauled in pit bull attack

A 6-year-old girl was the victim of a vicious dog attack in Maine. The young girl may never smile again after being mauled by a pit bull.

Lily Norton was at a friend's house and playing cards in the kitchen when she was ferociously mauled by the dog on Feb 18. The friend's mother was dogsitting a pit bull mastiff, but walked out of the room – that's when the dog pounced on Lily's face.

"They were going to play cards at the table, so she sat down at the table, the friend went and got the cards, and then as soon as the friend walked back in the room, she screamed to her mom because the dog had Lily in her mouth," said Dorothy Norton – the girl's mom.

Lily was rushed to a nearby hospital, but the 6-year-old's injuries were so severe that she had to be flown to the Boston Children's Hospital via medical helicopter.

The young girl underwent a 12-hour emergency surgery and needed more than 1,000 stitches.

Dorothy said Lily was having a difficult time in the hospital.

The mother told WGME-TV, "She kept trying to take the tube out and that's not a good thing, so they had to tie her hands down. Which is hard to see."

Family friend CJ Pitcher said Lily's doctors believe that the little girl may never smile again due to the extensive damage to her face.

"Her salivary glands aren’t working … and doctors said she won't be able to smile again. Muscles are too damaged," Pitcher said.

Pitcher said Lily needed to be sedated for at least a week to prevent her from scratching her face as her injuries heal.

A GoFundMe campaign was launched by Pitcher's son to help raise money for Lily's long road to recovery.

The Pitchers decided to include a graphic photo of Lily in her current state.

"Everybody hears about dog attacks, but they can’t really picture in their head what that looks like," Pitcher said. "So, we put it up."

Dorothy said of her daughter, "She's so energetic. She loves to be outside, loves it. And she doesn't hate all dogs, at least that's what she told me. She just doesn't want to see that one again."

The pit bull mastiff will reportedly be quarantined for 10 days and then evaluated to determine the next steps.

Chesterville Animal Control Officer Dexter “Buzz” Bridges said an investigation is ongoing into the dog attack.

(WARNING: Disturbing images)

Dog attack leaves 6 year old Maine girl with 1,000 stitcheswww.youtube.com

In the past few months, several children have been severely injured and even killed in dog attacks.

Last month, a 7-year-old boy from Idaho was mauled to death in a brutal dog attack. The boy's mother attempted to save her son from the pack of dogs, but she was too late, and she was hospitalized because of the wounds she suffered,

Also in January, a 7-year-old Louisiana girl was mauled to death by a neighbor's pit bull.

In the same month, an 11-year-old Georgia boy had 80% of his scalp ripped off when three pit bulls mauled him.

In December, a 4-day-old baby was killed by the family's Siberian husky.

In October, two small children in Tennessee were mauled to death by the family's two pit bulls. The mother of the children was also attacked. She survived but needed to be hospitalized.

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