HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — A 79-year-old Clear Lake woman just started walking again this week after she was attacked inside her own home by two pit bulls in December.
Pam Lopez is still trying to get her life back to normal.
"This is how I get around," she said as she moved across the floor in her wheelchair.
Lopez just started walking again this week.
"Before this happened, I was walking a mile a day," she said.
In December, her life changed.
"I had the garage door open, I was cleaning out the garage, getting ready for the holidays," Lopez said. "I came in the kitchen, shut the door, but evidently, I didn’t shut it tight enough. I didn’t see them right away and all of a sudden they were there."
Two pit bulls got through Lopez’s kitchen door and ran right to her, knocking her off her feet.
"Just bam, just like that and it was a clear break," she said.
Lopez was totally immobilized and the pit bulls were standing over her.
She said if it wasn’t for her 5-year-old lab, Rowdy, things could’ve been much worse.
"He was taking them off of me," she said.
Pam said Rowdy took the dogs to the back of the house to protect her. He was mortally wounded during the fight. Luckily, neighbors heard her screams.
"I told my neighbor to get them out of the house," she said. "He got bit in that process and then the standby person wandering by got bit."
Police arrived a short time later and they had to shock the dogs before they took them away. Lopez was rushed to the hospital and Rowdy was taken to the emergency vet. After spending $3,000 to save him, he only lived for 36 more hours.
"It ruined my life that I had, you know," Lopez said.
She had surgery and spent weeks in the hospital. Through intense physical therapy, she’s just now starting to get around her house on her own again.
Lopez said that ever since the attack, her nerves have been on edge and she’s been jumpy.
"I’d like to know who it was that owned those dogs," she said. "I don’t ever want to see them."