8-year-old boy saves his younger sister from a dog attack

An 8-year-old boy is being hailed as a hero after saving his little sister from a vicious dog attack.

Rebecca Chitwood, the mother of 8-year-old Nicholas and his 6-year-old sister Lillian, told local news station WNEM on Tuesday, July 2, that the children were playing at their grandparents’ house at the time of the June 30 attack.

“When I got the call, I just dropped everything and rushed to the hospital,” she said after discovering that the neighbor’s pit bull had escaped from the yard and allegedly attacked her daughter.

Chitwood set out on his journey without providing any details about the actual events.

“To me, it could have meant anything. It could have been a few stab wounds, it could have been what she’s experiencing now, it could have been even worse,” she said of her initial reaction to the call.

While Lillian is stable and has begun her recovery, Chitwood said her daughter still has a long road ahead of her.

“She had a cut on her neck about an inch from the artery,” she said. “And another bite went all the way to her face.”

Lillian is at risk of severe nerve damage, but she and her family are grateful that she is alive.

“It was hard, but I’m grateful to my brother for helping me because if he hadn’t, I would be dead right now,” she told WNEM.

“I didn’t want her to die,” Nicholas told WNEM.

Chitwood called her son “the best big brother in the world” and added that she was “very proud” of him.

Chitwood also spoke to Fox News Digital about how Nicholas came to Lillian’s aid.

“He jumped on the dog, pulled it away from her and kept kicking until her grandfather came to help,” she said of her son. “He just wanted to save his sister. He heard her screaming and… He took action.”

According to a GoFundMe account set up by Chitwood to pay for Lillian’s medical expenses, the dog was “NOT provoked” before attacking Lillian.

“We were taken to the University of Michigan for extensive surgery. I found out the owners had no renters insurance and refused to help us with anything,” Chitwood wrote.

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“My daughter has a long road ahead of her and will have to make numerous trips to the University of Michigan, which is only a few hours away. She will be unable to work and will have many medical bills to pay for an eternity, not to mention the mental toll this traumatic experience is taking on my little girl!”

The dog involved in the attack was euthanized by animal control, WNEM reported.