Monday May 9, 2011 – Toronto Sun – Marie-Helene Tokar was disfigured when the neighbor’s Pit Bull attacked her in September 2008 and tore off her nose near her home in Saint-Hippolyte, Que., 80 km north of Montreal. She was rushed to a hospital where doctors tried to reconstruct her nose with skin grafts, but the new skin did not take. “Seven days later, they were forced to take everything off,” said the horse breeder and farmer. A second reconstruction procedure a month after the attack also failed because of a blood circulation problem. “It’s been over since then,” said Tokar. “No more operations, but lots of complications, depression, headaches, infected wounds, you name it.”
Tokar’s plastic surgeon suggested she be fitted with a prosthetic nose, but medicare says it only covers the bills of people who have lost their noses to cancer, not dog attacks. Tokar said it makes no sense that medicare pays for elective surgeries while she’s left out in the cold. “I see people who had surgery to remove stretch marks or for sex changes,” she said. “Is that really more important than my case?”
Medication costs her $400 a month and her finances are at the breaking point. She still hasn’t received any payments from the pit bull owner’s insurance company. “Since the accident, I’ve gone $70,000 into debt,” said Tokar. “I sold my 12 horses and other animals on the farm, as well as my jewelry.”
There might be hope for Tokar because of the generosity of total strangers.
She was deluged with support after QMI Agency published a French-language story on her ordeal last week. Several people have even offered to help pay for her surgery. “It hasn’t stopped,” said Tokar. “People found my phone number. I get calls from all over Quebec and even New Brunswick. My Facebook account is overflowing with new friends.”
http://www.torontosun.com/2011/05/09/woman-disfigured-by-pit-bull-bailed-out-by-strangers
http://fr-fr.facebook.com/people/Marie-Helene-Tokar/612191382