Six-year-old Bridger Walker of Wyoming has become an internet hero for jumping in front of a dog that was running to attack his little sister. The dog attacked him instead, injuring him so badly that he needed 90 stitches on his face.
Walker's aunt, Nikki Walker, wrote on Instagram that on July 9, Bridger saw the dog and then deliberately stood in front of his sister. The dog proceed to bit him on his left cheek.
Despite being injured, he somehow led his younger sister away by the hand and helped her hide from the dog.
"If someone had to die, I thought it should be me," Bridger reportedly said after the attack, according to his aunt.
His aunt said that a "skilled plastic surgeon" helped treat Bridger's injuries with 90 stitches "give or take"—she said he's now resting at home.
Moved by his story, Nikki sought to give her nephew some comfort and encouragement by sharing a picture of him and his younger sister on her Instagram page and asking others to leave supportive comments and help spread his story.
Her posts about Bridger and his sister have since been liked on Instagram over 200,000 times and gained nearly 11,000 comments. His story has also gotten over 24,300 upvotes on Reddit, a link sharing platform.
While most of the comments have been positive, praising Bridger for his selfless bravery, some Reddit commenters worried about the children playing in an area with stray dogs and whether Bridger might need counseling to process his trauma and his feelings about his life being worth less than his sister's.
Newsweek reached out to Nikki for comment.
On July 12, Nikki posted a follow-up image of Bridger at a younger age with his arm around his then-infant sister. She said she had visited Bridger at his home.
"His wounds are looking so much better!" Nikki wrote. "He's in great spirits, and his awesome personality is intact."
Nikki mentioned in the post that she and Bridger's family felt grateful for all the supportive comments people have been leaving. She also mentioned that the dog's owners are "really great people who have been nothing but kind to Bridger and his family."
"We feel no resentment toward them at all, and—if anything—there's only been an increase of love between our families as a result of this incident," she said.
Instead of soliciting GoFundMe donations for Bridger, Nikki asked that donations be made to the Wounded Warrior Project, a group supporting injured military veterans, or Mission 22, an organization dedicated to stopping suicides by former military service members.
