'I was screaming for my husband': NC woman recounts dog attack that led to her foot being amputated

ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. (WTVD) -- It's been a long, few days for 78-year-old Anne Joyner. The Rocky Mount woman and her husband, Bobby, were attacked by a dog in their neighbor's backyard on Oct. 9.

Bobby Joyner has been discharged from the hospital. However, his wife is still recovering in a Greenville hospital.

Her foot was amputated as a result of the pit bull attack.

First reports indicated Anne was going to visit her neighbor before leaving for South Carolina. However, she told ABC11 that she was called over for a favor.

"(My neighbor Julie Proctor) called me and asked me if I had two Tylenol and I told her I don't think so, but I'll check and see," she said, "and I did happen to have it. But I wish I hadn't."

Doctors opted to amputate Anne's foot and her husband suffered arm injuries.

"I was screaming for my husband and I told him....the dog was going to kill me," she said. "My husband tried to get the dog away and the dog attacked him, too."

According to police records obtained by ABC11, Rocky Mount Police and animal control employees have responded to complaints about Proctor's pit bull.

• On Aug. 15, a call was made to report that "the dog is barking and trying to bite neighbors."

• The following month, Proctor's daughter called authorities, "to have animal control come out and pick up the dog" for reasons not specified.

• In an early October complaint, another caller said neighbors were afraid to walk the street because the dog was "aggressive."

Anne said the dog didn't always appear to be mean.

"When she first brought him around, he didn't seem didn't to be mean or anything like that," said Anne. "He gradually got mean."

Bobby Joyner added: "Ain't no hard feelings. Just one of them things that happened.

"If I get this off my arm, I'd feel better," he laughed.

A GoFundMe to assist the Joyner family with medical bills and expenses has raised almost $3,000 of its $10,000 goal.

Since the attack and while Anne Joyner is recovering, friends have built a wheelchair-accessible ramp in the family's backyard.

"We got a lot of people who love each other," said Bobby. "When you really think you ain't got no help, you got it."