8-year-old Pike Carlson and his older brother Gage went for a walk near their Bailey, Colorado home two weeks ago. They were going to go talk to their neighbor down the hill, which is something they did often.
Suddenly, their normal day turned into something out of a horror movie.
Pike was dragged down the hill by a mountain lion, screaming for help. Gage ran back up to tell their dad, who came running to help his son with a knife in his hand.
“[Pike’s] head was inside the lion’s mouth. And I watched, and I think that’s what made me snap inside, was watching him chew on [Pike],” dad Ron Carlson said.
The mountain lion had pinned the young boy under a tree and Pike said while he was fighting back. He found a stick and tried to stab the lion in the eye, but the stick broke.
Ron says, “the whole side of his face was open, there was blood all over him.”
It’s a miracle Pike is at all able, let alone two weeks after the attack, to sit and talk about what he went through. He’s had two surgeries, will likely require more, had dozens of stitches and staples, and his left eye “still works fine,” but the eyelid covers it for now.
Despite what he’s been through, Pike is still smiling and playing with his brother Gage.
Watch the NBC News report on his story below.