Additional Coverage:
- Traumatized woman disfigured by pitbulls while pregnant with twins says she can’t bear the stares (themirror.com)
A Kansas mother who endured a terrifying pit bull attack while pregnant with twins says the judgmental looks she receives from strangers only add to her pain.
On July 17, Audrey Austin, 31 and 24 weeks pregnant, was walking through an apartment complex in east Topeka when two dogs got into a fight nearby. During the chaos, one of the dogs attacked her, causing severe facial injuries and a long recovery process. “I was able to call my fiancé and tell him, ‘Come help me, I’m bleeding,’” Austin recounted.
Her fiancé, CJ Austin, described the aftermath as devastating, stating her injuries were so severe that “her face was hanging off.” Despite the trauma, Audrey’s primary concern during the attack was protecting her unborn twins. “When I got attacked, I was more worried about my babies than myself,” she said.
During the attack, Audrey broke her pinky while trying to shield her stomach from the dog, determined to protect the babies inside. A bystander who intervened was slightly injured but may have saved her life, according to CJ Austin. “If it wasn’t for the gentleman-our friend who stepped in-he said the dogs would have killed her,” he recalled.
Both Audrey and her unborn children survived, but she required extensive medical care. After nearly losing her sight, she underwent a grueling 10-hour reconstructive surgery on her face and nearly four hours of eye surgery.
While the physical wounds are healing, Austin says the psychological scars are just as difficult to bear. “I’m tired of people staring at me.
I’m tired of just being stared at,” she shared.
The incident has left her fearful of large dogs, though she places blame on the owner rather than the animal itself. “I don’t blame the dog because I love dogs,” she explained. “It’s how you raised a dog, and it’s how you trained a dog.”
Now, her focus is on her newborn twins, Kasai and Kamyiah, who were delivered at 38 weeks and remain in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Despite the trauma she has endured, Austin is determined to move forward for the sake of her children.