Who is Amelia Dean? Woman, 19, left paralyzed knee down after BISON tosses her 15 ft in the air
SOUTH DAKOTA: A woman was attacked by a bison and thrown 15 feet into the air when she was hiking along a Custer State Park trail on June 16.
Amelia 'Mia' Dean, 19, and a friend, along with her friend's dog, were on day two of a month-long cross-country road trip, when they encountered a bison.
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Amelia's father Matthew Dean told ABC and Fox affiliate Dakota News Now, "They came over a hill and saw down in the dip, quite a way ahead of them, they saw a big, male bison." While Mia and her friend thought about turning around, they eventually decided against it as they were out of supplies after hiking for almost two hours.
Amelia, who is from the UK, told the outlet, "I was really dehydrated, it was really sunny, and we'd both given our water to the dog like an hour ago." So, Amelia and her friend made their way around the bison when suddenly it looked up. Her mother, Jacqueline Dean told Dakota News Now, "They were over 100 yards away and the bison just ran down the hill at her. It came right up and stopped in front of her and then apparently, they had a bit of eye contact for a few seconds."
Amelia has been in the hospital for seven weeks, and recalled how she and the bison were so close, saying: "I could have put my hand out on his forehead without properly stretching it out completely fine."
The bison then attacked Amelia, its horn piercing all the way through her thigh. Further describing the near-death experience, she said, "I remember feeling the pressure on my hip. My hip being pushed back and I remember the sensation of flying in the air and going head over heels." Her friend managed to get the bison to leave before calling for help. Amelia was admitted to the Rapid City Hospital. Her parents have created a GoFundMe page to fund her treatment. They shared that Amelia had sustained a "completely severed femoral artery."
'It is a miracle that she is alive today' says family
Her family shared on the fundraiser page, "We are beyond fortunate that our daughter is still breathing, as she should have bled out in 2-8 minutes after the severed artery and the ambulance didn't arrive for 20 minutes. It is a miracle that she is alive today."
In addition to her femoral artery, the bison's horn caused damage to both her tibial and peroneal nerves which has left Amelia paralyzed from the knee down in one of her legs. The GoFundMe page states Amelia's love for dancing, and her plans to go to Edinburgh University in the fall. Her parents wrote: "We have no idea why this happened to our little girl, and simply wish for her to be able to walk and dance again and live her life to the full, without chronic long-term pain."
