Woman left blind after dog ATE her face is now doing her bit to improve disabled people's lives

Wendy Hamriding, 56, was knocked unconscious when she fell down the stairs at home .

Wendy Hamriding was left blind after the horrifying incident (Photo: SWNS)

 She woke in agony two hours later and was covered in blood because her dog, Cassie, had gorged on her face. The Rhodesian ridgeback cross-breed had eaten her right eye and the bone around the socket - and Wendy needed 100 operations to restore her sight. 

 The grandma was still able to see out of her left eye initially, but had been so badly mauled that she lost her remaining sight during extensive plastic surgery and skin grafts. She woke in agony two hours later and was covered in blood because her dog, Cassie, had gorged on her face. The Rhodesian ridgeback cross-breed had eaten her right eye and the bone around the socket - and Wendy needed 100 operations to restore her sight.

Wendy 

 The grandma was still able to see out of her left eye initially, but had been so badly mauled that she lost her remaining sight during extensive plastic surgery and skin grafts. Her dog was put down afterwards but, bizarrely, Wendy says she owes her life to the attack because it saved her from an early grave through alcoholism.

 She believes she was weeks away from dying as a result of her own addiction when she fell down the stairs at home in Preston, Lancashire, after downing a full bottle of vodka. Wendy said: "Cassie saved my life and I would rather be blind for life than dead."Before this happened, I was weeks away from dying as a result of drink. "I was drunk from the moment I woke up and would stay drunk all day. I would even wake up during the night to have a drink.

Wendy is a keen knitter and now wants to share her passion(Photo: SWNS)

 "I was dying. I knew alcohol was killing me, but I could not stop drinking. "I lost my eye and I lost my dog, but it was the best thing that could have happened." She added: "She didn't just eat my eye, she ate the bone around my eye socket too.

 "They had to rebuild a lot - the palate was taken out of my mouth to rebuild my eye socket. I had over 100 operations." Wendy believes Cassie was initially trying to wake her after the fall, but her instincts took over and the dog began to maul her.