"It's just unreal," Sandra Moore tells Fox 5. "I just don't know how much more we can take." Moore's grandson, 7-year-old Ethan Fain, was mauled by two dogs who pulled him out of a tree and attacked him last Christmas Eve in Georgia. Ethan lost his right ear and suffered serious damage to his left ear; his injuries required 300 stitches, the New York Daily News reports. Now another tragedy has befallen the family. On Aug. 7, Ethan was with his mom, Tracy Dowdy Fain, at the hospital getting stitches from a reconstructive surgery removed, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Suddenly, Fain, who had complained of a headache, collapsed.
Doctors found Fain suffered a brain aneurysm and stroke. Her daughter, Jessica Dowdy, says she wouldn't have survived if she wasn't already in a hospital when it happened. In the coming days, the swelling in Fain's brain got worse, and she was declared brain dead Tuesday. “Her body is still here, but her soul is gone,” Dowdy says. The family still hasn't told Ethan. “All he knows is mommy is sick and the doctors are trying to make her better like they made him better,” Dowdy says. A GoFundMe account has been set up for Fain, who also lost a nephew last month. (More stroke stories.)