Two boys in Michigan are on their way to recovery after being attacked by a family member’s dogs.
According to local outlets WOOD and WZZM 13, 5-year-old Wyatt Ketchum and 4-year-old Elijah Jackson were being babysat at a relative’s house in Muskegon, located along Lake Michigan, on June 27 when two Staffordshire terriers attacked.
Brian Ketchum, the boys’ father, says his cousin had just left the room to do laundry when the dogs attacked.
“All my cousin did when he called me, he said, ‘Brian, get to my house,'” Ketchum recalled while speaking with WZZM. “‘It is bad. It is bad.’ “All I did was hang up and go.”
According to Ketchum, the boys were taken to a local hospital before being transferred to Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital in Grand Rapids, where they have undergone physical therapy, reconstructive surgery, and are considering additional plastic surgery.
“They are both walking but still require some assistance,” Ketchum added. “Lots of swelling and bruising still.”
“Eli got the least of them,” Ketchum said of his younger son, recalling how his earlobe was almost completely severed. “He got his left leg, or whatever, was bitten, had deep laceration in that deep laceration in his shoulder.”
Wyatt’s injuries were much more severe, according to Ketchum, who told WZZM that his face was torn “from where your left eye tear duct is all the way down to your lip.”
“He is missing his left ear. He has deep lacerations on his upper and lower arms, as well as lacerations on his back near his spine and ribs, and deep lacerations on both his upper and lower legs,” the father added.
According to Ketchum, both dogs, one of which was a husky mix, were euthanised, and police are looking into the incident.
Muskegon police did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for more information.
On Saturday, July 5, Ketchum announced on a GoFundMe fundraiser that the brothers are finally on their way home from the hospital, but they still have a “long journey” ahead of them, including therapy, reconstructive surgery appointments, visits with ear, nose, and throat doctors, and more.
As of Sunday, July 6, the fundraiser had raised more than $800 of its $1,200 goal, which will cover the boys’ medical appointments and their family’s living expenses.
Ketchum told WOOD that the horrific incident has forced him to confront some difficult questions about himself and his family.
“It is to the point I am about ready to just give up everything so that way I [can] stay home with the kids,” he told the news organisation. “I am not sure who I can trust with my children. You trust your family, so how can you trust anything else? “Now my children will be affected for the rest of their lives.”
“These dogs could have killed my boys and everything,” Ketchum explained to WZZM. “If they would have killed my boys, I do not know what I would do.”
