When Heidi Henriksen (right) and her granddaughter, three-year-old Lucy (left) were attacked by a dog at a relatives home, Heidi knew she was not only fighting for her life, but for Lucy’s as well. Heidi sustained multiple injuries in the attack, but thanks to her quick thinking Lucy escaped the ordeal without a scratch.
Thankful to have survived
By Megan Molseed
mmolseed@thefayettecountyunion.com
They say a mother’s love knows no bounds and that a mother will gain super-human strength when it comes to protecting her own children. If so, it would stand to reason that if a mother’s love is so strong, a grandmother’s love would be even double that.
For Clermont native, Heidi Henriksen, she learned first-hand how the love of a grandmother works as she fought for her life to protect her young granddaughter, three-year-old Lucy, in a harrowing bid for survival during a potentially deadly dog attack last summer.
“We were visiting family for the fourth of July and the family wanted to say a prayer during the meal,” Heidi explained. “Lucy was like any three-year-old and decided that was the time to start getting wiggly and she just wasn’t wanting to sit still so she and I went out to the porch to wait for her mother to make her a plate.”
With little Lucy calming down as she talked with her grandmother outside on the porch enjoying some fresh air, everyone inside went about business as usual - saying a prayer, and serving up some delicious fourth-of-July picnic food.
Little did anyone know that within an instant, Heidi’s life would change forever.
“I was standing on the porch, talking to Lucy when all of a sudden I felt a hit and I was nearly knocked down to the ground, ” Heidi recalled. “The dog had jumped on me and was just biting me all over.”
