They call their 9-year-old son Conner a trooper and a hero, but Tim and Tracey Schools have a message to share in regards to why they use those words to describe him.

On Sunday, Nov. 22, Conner was attacked by a 140-pound American pit bull. The dog had clamped onto his right arm, snapping the ulna bone and creating a compound fracture.

The gash was surrounded by blood. “The main artery was almost cut,” his mother said.

“I’m gonna die” is what Conner said went through his mind at the time of the attack. When he was being rushed to the hospital, Tracey said he kept asking, “Am I gonna die?”

A third-grade student at Cold Harbor Elementary School, Conner was visiting his aunt, Vicki Jackson, in Lancaster County because his 7-year-old sister Elizabeth had bacterial pneumonia from H1N1 and had been a patient in St. Mary’s Hospital in Richmond for a week.

Last Wednesday, Conner and his parents talked about his ordeal from their home in Mechanicsville. At that time, he had already had two surgeries. A rod was inserted in his arm to hold the bones together.

Conner’s bandaged right arm is supported by a sling. As a right-handed person, he is having to adapt to depending on his left hand.

For Tim and Tracey, as their son recuperates, their attention also turns to how this assault occurred. “People should be responsible with their dogs so this child or any other child wouldn’t have to go through this,” she said. “Put it in the house, leash it If you own a pit bull, it’s your responsibility to take care of that dog.”

“It’s just so frustrating — it could have all been avoided,” she added.

The dog’s owners reportedly considered it a pet. Because of the attack, the pit bull has been euthanized.

Despite the experience, Conner talked about the attack about the events leading up to it. “First I was washing the golf cart off, it grabbed at me, I went up a hill and the dog got my leg.”

He doesn’t fear dogs — as a matter of fact, his aunt and uncle have about 25 hunting dogs in a kennel. His own family’s beagle, Cash, curled up in Conner’s lap when he was seated on the living room couch.

“My sister-in-law told Conner he could have one last ride on the golf cart before heading home,” Tracey recalled. “That’s when he was on the golf cart. The dog jumped on the golf cart, grabbed on to his knee, pulled him off the golf cart and dragged him 50 feet.” Tim and Tracey said the dog then started dragging Conner toward his home, which is about 100 yards away.

“The boy’s father who owns the dog heard what was going on and ran off,” Tim said. “They were able to get the dog off of Conner. After they got the dog off him, my sister went ballistic. When she saw his arm she freaked out – she rushed him straight to the hospital.”

Conner had what his dad called “a severe deep laceration to the bone and three spots that we know of in his arm.”

Vicki had wrapped Conner’s arm in a towel. “All she could see was blood gushing out and the bone sticking out,” Tracey said. “She rushed him to Rappahannock General [Hospital] up in Kilmarnock, that was the closest hospital.”

At Rappahannock General, Conner underwent surgery “where they closed the wounds up loosely,” Tim said. “They didn’t do anything with the bone,” Tracey said, because there was a concern about infections.”

On Mon-day, Nov. 23, Conner was transferred to St. Mary’s and faced his second surgery the next day. He was released the day before Thanksgiving.

Just before the attack, Conner had battled H1N1, leading to concern that he may develop pneumonia. He did have his first physical therapy before being released.

Complications from medications prompted a visit to the emergency room on Sunday, Nov. 29. Conner was scheduled to meet with a surgeon late last week to follow up on skin grafts and physical therapy. “We’re just learning as we go,” Tracey said.

Tracey said “It’s going to be a long road ahead of us, a journey.” “We won’t know the permanent injury until months down the road,” her husband said.

She said her son does talk about the incident “and it’s really good that he’s doing it, trying to deal with it.” She also said he has not complained, “just handled it wonderful.”

Tim and Tracey said their son is very active and will miss playing soccer during the healing process. He is following in his father’s footsteps when it comes to an interest in mechanics. “He’s already half mechanic,” his mom said.

“Our biggest message,” Tim said, “would be that if you have a dog of that size, and that type of breed — that breed has a history of attacking — you need to be responsible. It’s a 24/7 job; it’s not at your whim when you do this.”

“As for Conner, he could be having a normal Christmas and he won’t and he could have died,” Tracey said. “Honestly, it was a matter of seconds — the main artery was almost slashed. He would have died in a matter of seconds.”

She said her son had blocked his neck when the dog attacked. “The dog was really going for his neck, judging on what he told us had happened.”

Tim said it could be “up to a year before we know the extent of the damage.”

To keep up with is classes, a homebound teacher will be working with Conner. Tracey said he may be out of the classroom “at least through January.”

The dog that attacked Conner was not a stranger to him. He had seen the animal during a visit in the summer.