Allena Hansen was walking on her property in the wilderness when a bear attacked her in 2008. Hansen described the ordeal in gruesome detail: “I found myself down on the ground. I heard, ‘Chomp, chomp, chomp.’ I felt it go through my skull. I felt it bite through this eye.” As if it was a miracle, her two dogs, Decoy and Arky, came to the rescue. As soon as their barking distracted the bear, the woman found some strength to escape.

Dr. Kimberly Lee from the UCLA Medical Center was part of a surgical team that put Hansen back together in a 10-hour emergency surgery. “She had an indentation of the bone where the bear’s claw tore through her face,” reported Dr. Kimberly Lee. As horrible as it sounds, it was just the beginning of the woman’s dreadful misery.