Mother of boy mauled by dog dies

Doctors say mom had aneurysm, stroke at hospital.

Just eight months after a vicious dog attack left a Gwinnett boy with a mauled ear, his mother suffered a massive stroke and aneurysm that left her brain dead, the family says.

Tracy Dowdy Fain took her son, Ethan Fain, to a post-op appointment at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston Aug. 7, her daughter and Ethan’s sister, Jessica Dowdy, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Doctors have been working to restore the 7-year-old’s ear after dogs attacked him last Christmas Eve.

“Ethan was getting stitches out for the first reconstructive surgery and (Tracy) was complaining about a headache,” Jessica Dowdy said.

“All of a sudden, she lost all movement in her body and she passed out.”

Though Dowdy wasn’t there at the time, she said her mom’s husband and sister told her what happened.

If her mother hadn’t already been in a hospital, she never would have survived, Dowdy said. An ambulance rushed her from CHOA to Emory, where she underwent

emergency brain surgery, Dowdy said.

Doctors discovered not only a massive aneurysm but also that Tracy Fain had a stroke.

Swelling in her brain worsened until Monday, when the family was informed she might be brain dead.

“They are doing a series of tests to make sure she’s brain dead, but the past two showed that she is gone,” Dowdy said Tuesday night.

Doctors confirmed the death.

Dowdy, 24, ran through the events of the last week, trying to process everything.

The fact that her mother is an organ donor provides some peace, she said.

If her organs are viable for others, the family will get a list of recipient donors, Dowdy said, adding, “Her body is still here, but her soul is gone.”

Ethan, who has been seeing a therapist since the dog attack in his grandmother’s backyard, still doesn’t know, she said.

“All he knows is mommy is sick and the doctors are trying to make her better like they made him better,” Dowdy said.

The family is trying to raise money for Fain’s medical and final expenses.

They set up a fundraising campaign online at GoFundMe.

FAMILY PHOTO Tracy Dowdy Fain with her two children, Ethan Fain and Jessica Dowdy.