A brave little boy has had to live with hurtful comments from strangers and bullying in the playground due to the facial differences he was left with after a tragic encounter with two large Rottweilers.

Ryder Wells was attacked by the two 100-pound dogs when he was just 21 months old and was left with permanent facial injuries after more than 50 surgeries to reconstruct his face.

The courageous boy lost most of his right cheek, the lower part of his eyelid, 75 per cent of his lip, several teeth were badly damaged, and he also suffered a broken arm and an injury to his right lung.

Speaking today, his heartbroken mum Brittany, 31, shared how strangers have made insensitive comments about her son, and he has even been called a “monster” on the playground.

The teaching assistant said: “In the beginning it was horrible because even adults would stare.

“For the first year, he had no facial tissue on one side because he had two unsuccessful skin grafts.

“When we go to the park, there’s a child who points and screams ‘monster’ at him before running away.

“Out shopping the other day someone shouted ‘ew’ at him.

“It’s hard and it breaks my heart as a parent that after everything he’s been through, people aren’t always kind over something he can’t help.

“But he is such a fighter, he doesn’t let anything hold him back.”

Ryder was attacked by a family friend’s Rottweilers back and spent 14 hours in surgery after he was airlifted to hospital.

Medical teams warned Brittany to prepare for the worst, but despite doctors’ expectations, Ryder defied the odds, learning to eat and drink again while attending preschool and kindergarten.

The mum-of-two, from Granite Falls, North Carolina, said: “It happened so quickly.

“We were visiting friends and they had a dog flap about the size of the dogs.

“We were eating breakfast and Ryder was going back and forth to his toys and back for bacon, then he disappeared.

“I looked out of the window and he was face down in the garden.

“He had pyjamas on and they’d been completely torn, so he just had a sleeve on.

“When we picked him up and turned him over, his face was severely injured.

“He’d been around the dogs before and they’d been fine so I don’t know what happened.”

But despite such extensive injuries, little Ryder amazed everyone by refusing to give up.

Brittany said: “The doctors said they would do what they could, but we weren’t expecting him to pull through.

“They said it’s incredible that he’s still here because he was so small and the injuries were so serious.

“He had to have a tracheostomy because of the lung injury, and they thought the dogs had bitten so deeply into his skull that he would be paralysed.”

Ryder is expected to have more surgeries as he grows, including nose reconstruction and dental work to replace his damaged teeth.

Brittany is sharing their story to raise awareness about the impact bullying can have on someone with facial differences, as Ryder is due to start first grade in September.

She said: “He knows that people are talking about him, but he doesn’t say much.

“He wears glasses and a cap, and sometimes he’ll hang his head to hide his face.

“I try to deal with it in a positive way so it doesn’t affect him so much.

“But I just tell him every day that he’s beautiful, different is beautiful, and it’s okay to be different.

“I reassure him as much as I can, but I’m absolutely worried about when he goes to school.

“There are always going to be a couple of kids who aren’t kind.

“When he started kindergarten, the kids learned about Ryder before they met him so they wouldn’t be as surprised.

“You always want your child to be accepted and to fit in.

“Just because he’s different, it doesn’t make him any less of a person.”

The two dogs were taken away by animal control following the incident.

Brittany said: “He’ll never look the same, and we still face many challenges.

“The doctors said he would never be able to eat normally. He only has eight teeth now, but he eats everything.

“He refused a puréed diet and the special cup they gave him and learned to drink on his own.

“He’s really adapted.

“He has a great group of friends, and people in the town know him now, so that boosts his confidence.

“He’s been amazing with how he’s adapted after everything he’s been through.”

Source: The Mirror