At just five years old, Ryder Wells has endured more than most face in a lifetime. In 2015, while visiting family for Thanksgiving, the 21-month-old from North Carolina was mauled by two 100-pound rottweilers. Half his face was torn away, his teeth crushed, and he suffered a broken arm and punctured lung. Doctors told his family not to expect a miracle—but Ryder proved them wrong.
Since then, he has undergone about 50 surgeries. What hurts most, his mother Brittany says, are reactions from strangers. Children have called him a “monster,” and one passerby sneered “ew.” She admits, “It breaks my heart that after everything he’s survived, people still aren’t kind about something he can’t control.”
Now in school, Ryder sometimes hides beneath a cap or lowers his head. His mom reminds him daily that “being different is beautiful.”
Brittany shares his story to raise awareness: kindness matters, bullying scars, and every child deserves to be seen as “beautiful inside and out.”
