STATESVILLE, N.C. — Two-year-old Ryder Wells returned to his family's Statesville home Tuesday for the first time since he was attacked by two Rottweilers on Thanksgiving in Raleigh.
"(It) happened in a minute," his mother, Brittany Wells, said. "Like time for your kids playing in the room, time to walk to the kitchen, get a drink and come back. That's how long it took."
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The toddler crawled out a dog door at the friend's house where the attack happened. The dogs responsible were euthanized.
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Since then, Ryder has been hospitalized in Chapel Hill, where he has been treated for severe injuries to his face.
"We got to both be home together, and we got to bring him home, and our other son was with us, and it was like having our whole family back together," Ryder's father, Chris Wells, said.
"I think he is going to thrive a lot more in his environment here than he did at the hospital," his mother said.
Ryder now needs around-the-clock care. Later this month he will have to undergo another skin graft and still faces years of reconstructive procedures.
The challenges can seem overwhelming, but the family said they've gotten support from members of churches across Statesville and other areas many of whom they had never met before.
"(It) lets me know that there are really good people in this world and they have become extended family," his mother said.
"It's been surreal," his father said. "Just having all the people come together for a little boy they don't know."
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