Heroic boy, 8, saves little sister, 6, from horrific pit bull attack: 'I didn't want her to die'

An eight-year-old boy saved his younger sister from a neighbor's vicious dog after the pooch snuck into the family's yard and attacked the little girl.

Nicholas Chitwood is now being hailed as a hero - after he rushed to six-year-old Lillian's aid and stopped the full-grown pit bull in its tracks.

The attack last Sunday in suburban Michigan could have been fatal, their family said - if not for Nicholas's heroics and quick-thinking.

Not only did the big brother halt the dog as it bit her face and neck, he was also able to move his sister to safety before the animal could inflict more harm.

There will be extensive nerve damage to the girl's face, and doctors have yet to discern whether more surgery will be needed. She remains in a great deal of pain. The dog was put down.

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'When I got the call, I just dropped everything and sped all the way to the hospital,' Rebecca Chitwood, the kids' mother, recalled to WNEM. 

'To me, that could mean anything,' she said of how she was told over the phone that her daughter had been attacked by a dog.

'It could be a couple of puncture wounds, it could be what she's experiencing now, it could've been even worse.'

The kids had actually been at their grandparents' house, she said - playing in a backyard and enjoying the weather.

That's when the neighbor's dog allegedly got through a fence separating the two properties, after which it honed in on Lillian as her brother was elsewhere in the yard.

The dog then attacked the girl, biting her face and neck. A scream is what spurred Nicholas to step in to action, their relatives said - as they described how the young boy literally jumped onto the dog despite its savageness.

'He jumped on the dog and pulled it off her and continued to kick it until her grandpa came to help,' Chitwood recalled of her son. 

'He was just trying to save his sister. He heard her let out a scream and… he jumped into action,' she said, pun perhaps intended. 

In the attack's immediate aftermath, Lillian was left a bloody mess, her family said.

She has several bites on her neck, several of which were a mere inch 'from severing the artery in her neck,' her mother said.

'She also had her left eyelid repaired,' she added of the ensuing surgery at the University of Michigan. There, graphic photos showed the girl's swollen, stitched-up face 

'Several sutures,' she went on of the operation. 'And she has extensive nerve damage in her face.'

Nicholas also spoke up in an interview, after miraculously emerging from the encounter unscathed. 

'I didn't want her to die,' the bespectacled boy told the outlet, as he continues to receive praise from neighbors and relatives alike for his selflessness.

His sister, now faced with a long road to recovery, said of the ordeal: 'It was hard, but I’m thankful for my brother to help me.'

She heartbreakingly added: 'Because if he didn’t, I would be dead by now.'

Chitwood, meanwhile, is proud of both children for their bravery, but singled out Nicholas again Tuesday as the trauma of the attack still looms large days later.

'I’m very proud. He is the best big brother in the world,' she said of the youngster.

The dog, meanwhile, was euthanized by animal control immediately after, as the family has set up a GoFundMe to help with Lillian's medical expenses.

In a description, Rebecca wrote that the dog was unprovoked. 

'Any and all donations are much appreciated,' she added, anticipating several more trips to the University of Michigan's medical department.

As of writing, the webpage has raised $6,862 of its $10,000 goal.