Lend Tom Whitmore a Hand... or Arm
Donation protected
Hello! My name is Bri, and I am writing on behalf of my dad, Tom Whitmore, for a few reasons. A main one is that he cannot do so himself as the incident I am about to tell you about left my father with no use of his right arm and limited use of his left (spoiler alert, he also lost half of his right ear but we will get that later).
I have never done anything like this and really never thought I would have to. No one ever does though, do they? The reason I am here, asking for donations, is so that my dad and stepmom can hopefully get some assistance with their monthly bills as they have exhausted their entire life savings over the past year due to the attack that forever changed their lives.
Before I can explain what happened, I first want to clarify that if you are here to pass judgement on the situation or the people involved, I would kindly ask you to close this tab and keep your opinions to yourself.
On July 30, 2021, my dad was home alone with his three dogs (extremely large, XXL pitbulls), Freddy, Traviesa, and Tank, while my stepmom was at work. This is where you judgy jerks can leave. Freddy and Trav had a litter of puppies seven weeks prior and the puppies were doing what puppies do, sleeping, peeing, pooing, playing, sometimes all at once. Well at one point, a puppy got a paw stuck in part of the play pen and when dad got up to help, the only way I can describe what happened next is shit got real.
Freddy instantly attacked and for the next 45 minutes, my dad fought for his life against a dog that had been one of his babies since he was six months old. Let me be clear - these dogs were treated better than me sometimes... Protecting his neck and head as best he could, my dad had to watch as his skin and tissue was flung across the living room, had to hear the bones in his right arm break, had to feel half of his ear torn off while what was left snapped back to his head. 45 minutes. Think of sitting through almost an enter episode of Ozark (one of his faves), looking into the eyes of a dog you have raised while telling him it is okay (it was definitely not okay) and seeing nothing but a killer staring back at you.
The puppies staged a jailbreak from their play pen which distracted Freddy from his attack. Lord knows how he did it but Dad saw this as quite possibly the only chance he had to get away and live. Despite extensive damage to his legs (his last attempt to stop Freddy from getting to his neck), he got to his feet and slowly made his way to the bedroom where his first attempt to call 9-1-1 was a fail. Giving it everything he had left, he was able to successfully call for help.
Flashforward to one LifeFlight, three months straight in the hospital, 26 surgeries (and counting), a massive blood clot in his lungs, and multiple infections later, the guy who spent his entire career working with his hands as a machinist is looking at a future where he will likely never be able to work again. While he and my stepmom figure out what their future looks like, any donation would go a long way to helping them continue to make their monthly bills and ease the stress they are currently under and have been under for close to a year.
I have never done anything like this and really never thought I would have to. No one ever does though, do they? The reason I am here, asking for donations, is so that my dad and stepmom can hopefully get some assistance with their monthly bills as they have exhausted their entire life savings over the past year due to the attack that forever changed their lives.
Before I can explain what happened, I first want to clarify that if you are here to pass judgement on the situation or the people involved, I would kindly ask you to close this tab and keep your opinions to yourself.
On July 30, 2021, my dad was home alone with his three dogs (extremely large, XXL pitbulls), Freddy, Traviesa, and Tank, while my stepmom was at work. This is where you judgy jerks can leave. Freddy and Trav had a litter of puppies seven weeks prior and the puppies were doing what puppies do, sleeping, peeing, pooing, playing, sometimes all at once. Well at one point, a puppy got a paw stuck in part of the play pen and when dad got up to help, the only way I can describe what happened next is shit got real.
Freddy instantly attacked and for the next 45 minutes, my dad fought for his life against a dog that had been one of his babies since he was six months old. Let me be clear - these dogs were treated better than me sometimes... Protecting his neck and head as best he could, my dad had to watch as his skin and tissue was flung across the living room, had to hear the bones in his right arm break, had to feel half of his ear torn off while what was left snapped back to his head. 45 minutes. Think of sitting through almost an enter episode of Ozark (one of his faves), looking into the eyes of a dog you have raised while telling him it is okay (it was definitely not okay) and seeing nothing but a killer staring back at you.
The puppies staged a jailbreak from their play pen which distracted Freddy from his attack. Lord knows how he did it but Dad saw this as quite possibly the only chance he had to get away and live. Despite extensive damage to his legs (his last attempt to stop Freddy from getting to his neck), he got to his feet and slowly made his way to the bedroom where his first attempt to call 9-1-1 was a fail. Giving it everything he had left, he was able to successfully call for help.
Flashforward to one LifeFlight, three months straight in the hospital, 26 surgeries (and counting), a massive blood clot in his lungs, and multiple infections later, the guy who spent his entire career working with his hands as a machinist is looking at a future where he will likely never be able to work again. While he and my stepmom figure out what their future looks like, any donation would go a long way to helping them continue to make their monthly bills and ease the stress they are currently under and have been under for close to a year.
If you have the capacity and are able to donate, anything is appreciated.
Please note GoFundMe does not accept the donations of actual limbs.
This is the first time we got to see him after the incident. He did not appreciate me calling it "just a flesh wound". I thought I was hilarious.
These are his arms "healing" but yuck.
One of his legs
The other leg
More healing. More yuck.
Organizer and beneficiary
Brianna Whitmore
Organizer
Hesperia, CA
Tom Whitmore
Beneficiary