“We can’t really recognise him the way he looks now.”
The family of nine-year-old boy Alejandro Miszan, who was seriously injured after being mauled by a dog in Wexford at the weekend, have spoken out about the attack.
According to reports, the child was playing in an estate in Enniscorthy on Sunday afternoon (27 November) when he was set upon by the animal.
Alejandro was subsequently airlifted to the CHI at Crumlin in Dublin where he is undergoing treatment for serious injuries.
In a statement to JOE, Gardaí said the dog – which was reportedly a pitbull – has been put down.
Speaking about Alejandro’s attack, his older brother Raul Miszan, 21, told Newstalk Breakfast that the family is in “terrible shock”.
“My mother is in a very bad depression at the moment. My father is devastated,” he stated.
“We just don’t have words to describe our pain that we have in our hearts at the moment.
“My family is destroyed.”
Asked about how serious Alejandro’s injuries are, Raul responded:
“All I can say is that his face is completely destroyed. He has no lips. His face is in bits.
“His face is not like it used to be anymore. It’s just completely changed. He is not the same anymore.
“We can’t really recognise him the way he looks now at the moment. He is in terribly bad condition.”
Raul also said he is not sure if Alejandro will be able to talk again.
“At the moment, he’s got a tube into his neck so he can breathe. He can’t talk. I don’t know if he will be talking again,” he explained.
“When he wants to say something, he will just write a message and that’s all.
“But he can’t really type at the moment because he’s asleep and he just wakes up for like two or three seconds and then he goes back to sleep.”
Raul described his young brother as a “very friendly child” who is popular in his neighbourhood and school.
“Everyone loves him because he’s very friendly and he likes to chat,” he added.
“But now, at this moment, I don’t think he can talk anymore. It’s just terrible.”
While on Newstalk Breakfast, Raul expressed gratitude to the people who came to his brother’s rescue, particularly one man who reportedly used a baseball bat to fight off the dog.
“I went yesterday back to my home in Enniscorthy, County Wexford. I went to look for him just to thank him that he saved my brother’s life,” he said.
“Because probably, if it wasn’t for him, maybe my brother wouldn’t be beside us now anymore.
“We just thank God that he is still alive and he’s still with us at the moment.”
A neighbour of Alejandro’s has set up a GoFundMe page for the child and is encouraging people “to donate anything to get this little boy his beautiful smile back and get him back home”.
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