an ambulance, hurtling back to the middle-school soccer field, where a helicopter waited
to transport them to Sharp Memorial Hospital in San Diego.
“I remember feeling warm and safe in the
ambulance, and then later in the helicopter,”
Richard says. “The paramedics kept asking
us questions because we were in shock and
they didn’t want us to fall asleep. We drove
back to the field in like three minutes, going
the same distance that John and I had just
taken an hour to cover.”
At the end of the 30-minute helicopter
ride, Richard and John were rushed into the
emergency room and soon after to the oper-
ating room, where Dr. Vecchione, the plastic
surgeon on call that evening, began the ex-
acting task of debridement—cleaning and
disinfecting each of the scores of wounds
covering the brothers’ bodies. “I’ve been
treating dog bites in emergency rooms for
more than 30 years, and this was among the
worst I’ve seen,” says Dr. Vecchione. “Rich-
ard had over 24 lacerations. John didn’t have
quite that many, but his wounds were much
deeper and the nerve damage was more se-
vere. It took me close to 90 minutes to repair
vessels and muscles and debride John’s lac-
erations, and another 60 minutes to debride
and close Richard’s.”
Meanwhile, news of the attack reached
the media. Newspaper, TV, and radio outlets
from throughout the San Diego area rushed
to Sharp, where Richard recounted the story
from his hospital bed. Within a few hours,
the story turned viral, with readers and blog-
gers from around the nation posting re-
sponses online. The article reporting the
attack on one network affiliate Web site
elicited more than 4,000 comments. Even
the Today show in New York City called re-
questing an interview.
