Many of you are aware of the recent rabid beaver attacks at Cunningham Falls. The first victim, the teenage boy, was none other than my nephew, D.

D was swimming underwater looking for fish in the designated swimming area of Cunningham Falls, an area he has swam in since he was a little kid. An area I’ve swam in since I was a kid. We’ve never seen beavers there! His mom and younger brother were on shore when they watched in horror as this 4-foot-long beaver (not a cute little cuddly beaver—this thing was as big as his 8 year old brother) came out of nowhere from the deep of the lake, beelined straight toward D, and began biting and attacking him.

He did not provoke it, poke it, or mess with it in any way. This was completely unprovoked.

There is an article in the Baltimore Sun with an interview with my brother if you want the full story but D had to basically fight this beaver for his life. Shoutout to @Groundswell Gym, because imho, the skills D has learned there helped him survive this attack. He’s an amazing athlete and a winning wrestler, and I truly believe that helped him fight back and protect himself. If this had been a younger child, the outcome could have been so much worse.

As traumatic as it was for my sister-in-law to watch her son being attacked and then flown to Baltimore in fear he had a punctured lung, she then had to see people online in the comments immediately blaming D for what happened and saying it was his fault.

Talk about adding insult to injury!!!

D’s BIRTHDAY IS THIS WEEK!

He’s also starting high school this year, so today I’m asking our community to help turn all of this into something positive.

If you feel so inclined, please drop D a happy birthday, a word of encouragement, or just a message letting him know people are rooting for him.❤️

We’ve also been asked DAILY to set up a GoFundMe. Although my brother and sister-in-law were initially apprehensive about it, I took the liberty of setting one up for them.

If you’d like to help, donations will help with D’s medical expenses and recovery, including treatment with a hand surgeon for his hands and a plastic surgeon for his chest. Or if you want to throw the young man a couple dollas toward his birthday, go ahead !

I’m happy to say his rabies treatment is going well and his stitches are healing well. My brother wanted to include pictures from the attack so people could understand how serious this was. Trust me, these pictures don’t even do it justice.

Thank you for reading, sharing, sending D some love, or contributing if you’re able to. ❤️