HOUSTON – A mother and son in Spring, forced to bond over frightening details of being attacked by their next-door neighbor’s dog, on two separate occasions.
The dog has now been put down and both mom and son are expected to recover, but they say the memories of what happened still haunt them, and so do the mother’s growing medical bills.
”I thought, ‘Oh my God,’ and I just kept saying ‘Help, somebody help,’” said Irene Cornish.
She says she’s grateful to be alive.
”It was just blood all over me,” she said.
It happened right after returning from brunch on March 11.
Before she was able to get inside her house, she was mauled by her next-door neighbor’s 9-year-old rescue dog.
A Dogo Argentino named, Ghost.
”Finally after 12, 15 minutes... I said, ‘God, take Ghost away,’” she recalled.
During the attack, Irene says she suffered a punctured artery and severe lacerations to her shoulder, arm, and leg.
A neighbor who tried to help ended up calling her son Stephen.
”I look out the window, my mom’s covered in blood across the street,” Stephen says .
The entire ordeal was a painful flashback for Stephen who along with their dog Chief was also relentlessly attacked by Ghost on Oct. 1.
”Eventually, I had to put their dog to sleep with a sleeper hold, and it did break my rib,” he said.
Stephen says his finger was also broken, acknowledging Ghost’s owner paid for his medical bills at the time.
However, following his mother’s near-death experience that left her hospitalized for a week, Stephen says Ghost’s owner decided to have the hunting dog put down, but his mother’s bills continue to pile up.
”Since then, there’s been no effort to contact either of us,” he said.
Stephen says animal control didn’t have Ghost put down after the first attack for two reasons. One, dogs are allowed two human attacks before that’s required, and secondly, one case was handled by Montgomery County Animal Control and the other by Harris County because he says Ghost’s owner gave officials different addresses.
The family has set up a Gofundme to help with Irene’s mounting bills. KPRC 2 did speak to Ghost’s owner who says he is sorry and would be willing to work something out.