Child recovering after pitbull attack

A five year old girl is recovering after being attacked by a pitbull in Jonesboro.

"Seeing my daughter lying there, holding her face with blood everywhere...I thought my daughter was going to die," Latesha Bilberry, victim's mom, says.

Latesha Bilberry tells FOX 5 she was at a neighbor's house with her daughter on July 11 when the attack happened. Bilberry says Iyonna was hanging out with friends when one of the children opened the door to where the dog was being kept.

"Animals can be overprotective of family so when the dog got sight of the kids playing, her being the unfamiliar child, he went for her and got ahold of her," Kyle Ferguson, Bilberry's fiance says.

Iyonna is currently at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Egleston. "She had to have a blood transfusion, facial surgery, surgery on her eyelids and nose reconstruction," Bilberry says.

Iyonna's mom says her daughter is progressing, but that she's got a long way to go. "We're watching her favorite movies, we're talking to her, she's giving us jokes, she's got balloons, loves her visitors, it's just about getting her back to square one," Ferguson says.

Bilberry says the dog was quarantined for 10 days following the attack. "We are still working out the next step for the dog," Bilberry says.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help with Iyonna's medical costs: https://www.gofundme.com/2ecyds4