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Flashback: Jose Basilio Attacked by a Pack of Pit Bulls

Jose Treated with Artifical Skin Called Integra
Wapato, WA - On December 14, 2004, a pack of stray dogs were fighting over something in Monica Esparza's yard. She yelled for the dogs to scatter and saw that it was her grandson, 4-year old Jose Basilio. "All I did was put him in my arms and was kicking the pit bull," says Monica.

The dogs tore away chunks of Jose's arms and shoulders. He had more than 50 puncture wounds. "He wasn't yelling or crying or anything and I thought he was more dead than alive," Esparza describes. "So when I grabbed him up and he told me he was cold and sleepy, I just tried keeping him awake until they got there because I was afraid he was bleeding to death."

Doctors at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle used an artificial skin called Integra to patch his wounds. After a month and half stay at the trauma unit, doctors were surprised that Jose healed as good as he did. It was a combination of timing, luck and excellent surgeons. Just before he left the hospital, his plastic surgeon Dr. Loren Engrav gave Jose a parting gift.

"You put together the young healthy individual and the pediatricians and nurses who do what they do and procedures that went well, and he's going home for Christmas," says Dr. Engrav.

It was to be a Christmas surprise that no one expected and no one will ever forget. His Grandmother left Harborview saying, "God gave us another chance with this little boy, to not take life for granted."

Three years later, five loose dogs in the same area attack Lew Yallup. This man was also airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for treatment.

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