Model Refuses To Quit Career After Vicious Dog Attack, Embraces Her Scars
Life often changes when we least expect it — when we’re celebrating, or relaxing, or otherwise not thinking of how very different our lives could be.
Suzel Mackintosh was a young woman who dreamt of becoming a model. At just 23 years old, the Australia native had the whole world of opportunity before her.
It was New Year’s Eve that almost changed all of that. New Year’s is a time we enjoy saying goodbye to the previous year and its various trials and welcome limitless possibilities that lie before us.
Mackintosh was out camping with some friends. One person had brought his dog along, which is pretty common. Dogs love camping, too.
“I was camping with friends and a mutual friend brought his dog down — he told me the dog was super friendly so I was playing with him all day,” recalled Mackintosh.
“After we celebrated the count down, I went to the car to get something and saw the dog in there, I gave him a pat and he jumped up and bit me on the face shaking me, I fell back to the floor and felt the holes in my face.”
It’s unclear why the dog, which had been so friendly before, lashed out at her this time. Maybe he was startled? Perhaps the sounds of celebration had scared him?
Whatever the case, the dog reacted, mauling the would-be model’s face and leaving her with major nerve damage. The owner did nothing except to say he felt bad she’d been bitten.
She was crushed. Beside the pain and the lengthy recovery period, Mackintosh now feared what the new year would hold.
“I knew how badly damaged my face was,” she said. “I thought no one would ever love me again and worse that all my dreams of being a model were over.”
“I was so depressed and went to hospital where I had to undergo plastic surgery. It was my friends and family around me that supported me during a dark time, they convinced me I had so much to live for.”
Determined not to let the attack get her down, she pushed through the mean commentary she often got online and decided to pursue her dream career as much as she could.
“I have a lot more strength behind me as I will not only do it for myself but for anyone else struggling with the same insecurities,” she said. “I was planning to come back to London and contacted agencies but with my lip being paralyzed I know it won’t get me into the modelling I dreamed of doing.”
While she fears that her new look may scare off potential clients, she’s doing all she can to combat that mentality. “I plan on doing all I can to get as close to this as possible,” said Mackintosh. “I will keep pushing and trying my hardest to make it possible so others can feel that nothing is impossible.”
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