By Ralph Barnett

ALMOST EXACTLY two years ago, young Arbroath girl Demi Fraser touched the heart of the nation with her courage and positive attitude after she suffered horrific facial injuries when she was savaged by a bull mastiff bitch.

Now almost 13, the memories of the attack and the repeated surgery are still as clear as ever, but she has moved on with her life and looking forward to a happy and successful future.

Demi said, “I think I’ve got over it very well and as well as the plastic surgery I’ve been getting silicon injections to try to even out the scar sites a bit.

“Just last week my mum and I went to see a woman who works with the Red Cross and does something called compact camouflage.

“She specialises in make-up techniques to cover up bad scars but, to be honest, it’s not something that bothers me and I would probably only use it if I was going out somewhere really special and then only maybe when I’m a bit older.”

Despite her ordeal, Demi has overcome her initial fear of dogs—although she admits she is still wary of larger breeds and doesn’t like “big jumpy dogs that try to lick your face”—and has even been working as a young volunteer with the Help for Abandoned Animals sanctuary at Kinaldie, just north of Arbroath.

She said, “I’m working there on Wednesdays and Saturdays during the school holidays with one of our neighbours and, although there are dogs around, it’s the cats I feed and play with with because I prefer cats really.”

Although she was in her last year at Hayshead Primary School when she suffered her injuries, Demi is now about to go into second year at Arbroath Academy and is facing the challenges ahead with the sort of confidence and self-belief which saw her—and her little sister Melissa (8) who witnessed the attack—through the physical and psychological recovery process.

She said, “Most of the people I was at Hayshead with came up to the academy as well but I’ve made a lot of new friends and I’m really enjoying secondary school.

“No-one ever mentions my scars, in fact they’re more likely to wind me up for being a swot—but I know my education is important and I want to do as well as I can.

“I want to go on and become a paediatric nurse play therapist—someone who helps people who have been through something like I have to cope with: hospital visits and surgery —because I have been inspired by Nurse May, who has been a great help to me.

“She explained everything that was going to happen, even letting me use a doll to find out how the anaesthetic needles go in, and let me drive the electric quad bike to the theatre.

“That was great fun, even though I did run into the heels of one of the consultants!”

In what little spare time she has, Demi is an enthusiastic member of Arbroath’s Showcase the Street music and dance project, an interest she also follows at the lunchtime hip-hop dance classes at school.

Having herself won a national award for her courage in the face on adversity, Demi decided the the support her mother Wendy had given her was also deserving of some recognition.

She said, “I was in Tesco’s with my gran and, without telling my mum, we filled out a form nominating her for the Mum of the Year Award and, if she wins it, we’ll be able to go back down to London and attend another big ceremony, which would be fantastic for her.”

Wendy said, “I’m just so proud of how well Demi and Melissa have gone through this as it’s the sort of experience that could have really had a very negative effect on girls who aren’t as strong as they are.

“Although, for some reason, the dog that did this to Demi wasn’t ordered to be destroyed at the time we heard that it had been put down, which gave us some sense of closure because we at least knew we wouldn’t meet it in the street.

“We have never blamed the dog because we believe there are no bad dogs, only bad owners, but we do also believe that if a dog does do something bad, a big dog is going to cause a lot more damage than a small one.”