CARBONDALE - From the side of her 3-year-old daughter Rosie's bed at a St. Louis hospital, Kendra Gordon said her little girl "is doing great.

"They did what they called tissue transplant," Kendra Gordon said in a telephone interview.

The 12-hour surgery started Tuesday afternoon at Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center in St. Louis and ended early Wednesday morning. Skin, a tendon and an artery were taken from the child's left arm and used on her face.

"The surgeons were very confident and they were able to do everything they set out to do," Kendra said. "Down the road she will have to have a series of plastic surgeries. All of the major stuff was done last night."

Carbondale Police Department Lt. Don Priddy said after the attack June 19 that the American bulldog bit the Carbondale girl while she and her parents were visiting the dog's owners at 609 Skyline Drive in Carbondale.

The owner, Kip Waller, attempted to pull the dog off the child and was also bitten. He was treated at the emergency room of Memorial Hospital of Carbondale.

Kendra said the dog has since been euthanized.

"It all happened really fast," she said. "I'm not really comfortable talking about it. It was the dog that belonged to a person we know that is a friend of ours. We had her at the hospital (Memorial Hospital of Carbondale) very fast and within 30 minutes they had her on a helicopter to here."

Kendra said the first 48 hours after the surgery was the most critical, but Rosie has gotten all good reports.

"Her neck is fine," Kendra explained. "She is missing all the tissue from where if you took your finger from the corner of your mouth from your earlobe down and along the jaw line to her bottom lip. It was pretty major. This hospital is amazing."

The mother said she and Rosie's father, Tom Gordon, have had an exceptional support system to help carry them through the rough time.

"We have just tried to think about all the people that are thinking about us and praying for us and that has kept us going," she said.

tara.fasol@thesouthern.com / 351-5824

Details

Donations to the 'Reach out to Rosie' fund, which has been set up to help Rosie Gordon's family with her medical expenses, can be made at the First Southern Bank, 301 E. Main St. in Carbondale. Checks should be made to 'Reach out for Rosie.'