As a pit bull attacked her outside a Kansas apartment complex, Audrey Suarez made one instinctive decision.

She covered her stomach.

Suarez was 24 weeks pregnant with twins, and while the dog inflicted severe injuries to her face, she focused on shielding the unborn babies beneath her arms. The struggle was so intense that she broke her pinky while trying to protect them.

The twins survived.

So did their mother.

But the July 17 attack in Topeka left Suarez facing multiple surgeries, lasting scars and nightmares that wake her screaming in the middle of the night.

Her partner, C.J. Austin, said a friend who intervened may have prevented the attack from becoming fatal.

Without that man’s help, Austin believes the dogs would have killed her.

A Walk Through the Complex Turned Violent

Suarez was walking toward the home of one of Austin’s relatives at the Highland Park Townhomes when violence broke out nearby.

According to Topeka police, three people became involved in a fight in the area. During the disturbance, the 6-year-old son of one of the people involved let two dogs outside.

One of them attacked Suarez.

She was not described as a participant in the dispute. She had been moving through the complex when the dog turned toward her.

Austin said the scene was horrifying.

By the time help reached Suarez, the injuries to her face were severe. He described the damage as so extensive that parts of her face appeared to be hanging away from where they belonged.

The attack had unfolded quickly, leaving little time for Suarez to escape or protect herself.

Her first concern was not her face.

It was the babies.

She Used Her Body as a Shield

Suarez’s pregnancy made the situation even more dangerous.

At 24 weeks, she was carrying two unborn children who could not be protected from impact except by their mother’s body.

Austin said that while the dog was attacking, Suarez thought only about keeping it away from her stomach.

She covered her abdomen and absorbed the violence elsewhere.

During the struggle, she broke her pinky. The injury occurred as she kept her arms positioned to prevent the dog from reaching the twins.

The instinctive response came at an enormous cost.

Suarez suffered what her fundraising page described as severe facial injuries. The damage required a 10-hour operation on her face.

She also underwent a separate four-hour procedure on one eye, which doctors came close to being unable to save.

The surgeries marked only the beginning of what could become a long recovery.

A Friend Stepped Into the Attack

Another man suffered minor injuries while trying to pull the dog away from Suarez.

Austin credited that intervention with saving her life.

The friend entered a dangerous situation involving an aggressive animal and managed to help stop the attack despite being hurt himself.

His decision gave Suarez the chance to survive long enough to receive emergency medical treatment.

The confrontation had already caused catastrophic injuries, but the outcome could have been worse.

For Austin, there is little doubt that Suarez and her unborn twins remained alive because someone nearby refused to watch without acting.

The man’s injuries were described as minor compared with Suarez’s.

His role, however, was critical.

Police Shot One Dog at the Scene

Police responded to the apartment complex as the situation continued.

The dog involved in attacking Suarez later became aggressive toward an officer, according to the account provided. Police shot and killed the animal.

The second dog was taken into the custody of Animal Control.

Authorities began investigating the circumstances that led to the dogs being released and the attack that followed.

The dogs’ owner was not publicly identified.

She offered a different account of the events surrounding the original fight, saying two people had attacked her. She maintained that the dogs had been protecting her young son during the confrontation and claimed they had not been causing harm before the situation escalated.

The investigation remained ongoing.

No final determination regarding responsibility or possible charges was included in the source report.

The Twins Survived, but Their Mother Faces a Long Recovery

Suarez and both unborn babies survived the attack.

That outcome brought relief to a situation filled with frightening possibilities.

Yet survival did not restore the life Suarez had before July 17.

She had already undergone 14 hours of surgery across two major procedures. The injuries to her face may require additional treatment, rehabilitation and follow-up care.

Her family also expects the scars to be permanent.

A fundraising campaign was created to help cover her medical expenses. More than $2,000 had been raised at the time of the report.

For a young family preparing to welcome twins, the financial pressure now includes hospital care, possible future surgeries and the practical challenges of recovery during pregnancy.

Suarez must heal while her body continues supporting two developing babies.

Every stage of that process may bring new medical and emotional demands.

The Attack Continues in Her Sleep

The physical damage is only one part of what Suarez has endured.

Austin said she experiences nightmares about the dog.

She wakes during the night screaming, reliving the attack after the immediate danger has already passed.

Those episodes reveal how violence can remain present even after wounds have been closed and the hospital room has become quiet.

Suarez may no longer be at the apartment complex, but her mind continues returning to the moment she was trapped beneath the animal’s attack.

Austin said the incident had changed her entire life.

The scars may remain visible. The fear may surface in places where dogs are nearby or where she feels exposed. Ordinary walks may no longer feel ordinary.

She survived while protecting her twins, but the emotional consequences may continue long after they are born.

A Dispute Left an Innocent Woman Paying the Price

The circumstances surrounding the attack began with a fight involving other people.

A child released two dogs.

One of those animals attacked a pregnant woman walking nearby.

That chain of events left Suarez carrying the consequences of a dispute she was not described as having started.

Austin expressed anger at how completely a person’s life could be altered within moments.

Before the attack, Suarez was preparing for the arrival of twins.

Afterward, those preparations became intertwined with facial reconstruction, eye surgery, medical bills and fear.

The people involved in the original confrontation could walk away from the scene.

Suarez left by ambulance.

Her First Thought Was for the Children She Had Not Met

The most powerful detail of the attack was not the severity of the injuries or the length of the surgeries.

It was the decision Suarez made while the dog was on her.

She could not protect every part of herself.

She chose her stomach.

By covering the twins, she left her face and arms exposed to the animal. That choice may have saved the unborn babies from direct injury.

It also helps explain why the damage to their mother was so devastating.

Suarez entered the attack as a woman walking through an apartment complex. She came out of it as a survivor facing months or years of recovery.

Her twins may one day hear how close their family came to tragedy before they were born.

They may learn that during the worst seconds of their mother’s life, she did not think first about what the dog was doing to her.

She thought about them.

The attack changed Audrey Suarez’s face, disrupted her pregnancy and followed her into her dreams.

It did not reach the two lives she protected beneath her arms.