By Rick Dandes
KULPMONT -- In a recovery that seems almost miraculous, a 9-year-old girl has returned home from a Valley hospital, 11 days after being mauled by a bullmastiff and left in critical condition.
Amanda Smith, who was attacked by the dog April 19 in Kulpmont and flown by helicopter to Geisinger Medical Center, Danville, was released on Tuesday.
"She's very happy to get out of the hospital and be here," her stepfather, Bill Urbanavage, said Thursday while watching his daughter play with the many toys that friends, neighbors and family have showered upon her.
Hannah Montana items top the list.
"I love Hannah Montana," Amanda said with a slight smile -- as much as she could muster with the swelling and severe facial injuries she suffered -- a broken jaw and nose, fractured skull and a torn tear duct.
"She's a strong girl," Urbanavage said. "She's stronger than anybody else I've ever seen. Sometimes, when I see her playing, it's almost like nothing happened."
Doctors thought she'd be in the hospital for up to a month, said Jennifer Smith, Amanda's mother, who is finally breathing a sigh of relief after two stressful weeks.
"They were amazed at how fast she is recovering."
Amanda has had two surgeries, one to reconstruct her nose and the other to fix her jaw. Doctors are giving her time to build strength before an operation to repair a tear duct that was torn out by the dog.
Plastic surgery will be needed in the future.
Stitches in Amanda's skull will be removed soon. Scars on her face are expected to fade in about a year.
"Believe it or not, after all this, she's not in pain," Jennifer Smith said. "But because of her jaw, she has to eat soft foods."
While recovering, Amanda has a pick line -- similar to an IV -- attached to her arm that dispenses medicine to her.
"I'm feeling OK," Amanda said. "I'm not hurt anymore."
Over the next few weeks she has appointments with six different doctors at Geisinger.
"They have done an amazing job on her face," Jennifer Smith said. "You should have seen her right after the accident. Her face was all bloodied. It was terrible."
The Amanda of old is now returning, now that she is home.
She has always been a happy, upbeat child, her mother said.
"Very friendly," Jennifer Smith said. "Everybody loves her."
Amanda and her family had just moved to Kulpmont from Lewisburg when the dog attack occurred.
A former student at Kelly Elementary School in Lewisburg, Amanda attended Mount Carmel Elementary for only two days before the attack. Even so, she had already made friends.
One of those friends, a 9-year old from Coal Township, had an aunt, Maryjoy Ruffner, who lived across the street from Amanda.
Ruffner owned a bullmastiff named Bandit.
On April 19, Amanda and her new friend walked the bullmastiff. When another dog charged Bandit, the girls tried to prevent a fight, and Bandit turned on the girls.
Pam Pellowski, of Kulpmont, was driving along Chestnut Street when she saw the attack.
"I started beeping my car horn." Pellowski said Thursday while sitting with Amanda in her family's living room. "I screamed, Help! Help!' But that dog would not get off her. Then, covered with blood, she ran across the street and I thought, Who is she and where is she going?' She was holding her face.
"The thing is, she never screamed. Not once."
Soon after, Amanda was flown by helicopter to Geisinger.
True to her nature, it wasn't long before Amanda made friends in the hospital.
"One day I showed a (student) nurse how to help me with my medicine," Amanda said.
Her friends -- and strangers -- have returned the favor.
"I might have to move into another room, I have gotten so many presents," Amanda said.
Jennifer Smith said she's been very surprised by all the support that has been shown to her family.
"I want to thank everyone," she said. "I've found that when something like this happens, people in small towns come together."
n E-mail comments to rdandes@dailyitem.com
