Mother develops close bond with strangers who saved her life after horrific attack

Suzanne Stratford
·3 min read
3

MEDINA COUNTY, Ohio (WJW) – A young mother who survived a horrific and unprovoked dog attack is thanking a team of heroic first responders and God for her survival.

“I remember feeling calm. I was screaming, trying to get someone’s attention, but felt calm,” said Lisa Reau, tearing up. “I truly believe it was by the grace of God giving me a strong sense of peace that I wasn’t going to die.”

It happened last year while she was dog-sitting. The animal lunged at her and continued attacking for more than 15 minutes.

A neighbor heard her screams for help and called 911.

Medina Township police officers and Medina Hospital Life Support Team paramedics quickly responded.

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When they also heard the screaming, they broke through the front door and tased the dog to get him off of Lisa.

“I did know about half way through I’d be losing my arm, so I came to terms with that right then and there,” said Reau. “I think much longer laying there bleeding out, I probably wouldn’t have made it.”

Lisa did lose half of her right arm and her nose, with other wounds to her face and body.

The dog had to be put down so that paramedics could save Lisa’s life by applying a tourniquet and other urgent measures.

She was rushed to Cleveland Clinic Medina Hospital where the Critical Care Air Transport team was waiting and flew her to Akron General.

Charge Paramedic Jason Creamer says it was a seamless team effort.

“A lot of it was pretty automatic, everyone in the right spot at the right time,” said Creamer.

“Definitely say there were many heroic efforts made that night,” said Lt. Todd Zieja with the Medina Township Police Department.

Now, more than a year later, Lisa is continuing to recover and has undergone nine reconstructive surgeries with a 10th scheduled for July.

But, she remains optimistic and grateful to those brave men and women who risked their own safety to rescue her.

One of the first things she did upon being released from the hospital was to go and thank them in person.

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“I wanted to hear from their perspective and just thank them,” she said. “I’m alive and here because of them and that’s just incredible. They should be recognized for that every day.”

Lisa also nominated them and they won the prestigious Ohio EMS Star of Life Award, which they will receive in Columbus on Wednesday, May 22.

Here is the list of all of the first responders receiving the award who were there that night and helped save Lisa’s life:

  • Medina Hospital Life Support Team:

    • Rebecca Frantz

    • Brandon Eckhardt

    • Jonathan Lazo

    • Jason Creamer

    • Zachary Smith

    • Daniel Gazzo

  • Medina Township Police Officer Matt Ventura

  • Medina City Police Dispatcher Pat Villeneuve

  • Cleveland Clinic Critical Care Air Medical Transport:

    • William Gillen, NP, Carol Yocum-Baker, RN,

    • Pilot John Hartman,  Pilot Robert Pietro.

Lisa will also be at the ceremony to show her support and gratitude.

Creamer says they are all actually the ones impressed by her courage.

“The one who deserves the award is Lisa. She is an inspiration to us all,” said Lt. Zieja.

“I was amazed by Lisa, how she stayed calm. Even back then, she was pretty positive about the whole thing,” said Creamer.

She and the first responders have all become close friends and say they will forever be bonded by that fateful night.

Although Lisa is facing many challenges and additional surgeries, she remains positive about the experience and life, refusing to let it define or depress her.

“It’s impacted my life significantly, but it’s all about how you deal and how you want to come out of it,” she said. “So, I’ve chosen to try and be as positive as possible and to work through the hard times and rely on my support system and I’m just very grateful to be able to share my experience with others.”

A GoFundMe has been created to help the young mother with some of the financial burden.

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