SPOKANE, Wash. — If you looked at 10-year-old Lily Kryzhanivskyy today, you would likely notice her pretty smile and beautiful brown hair.
If you didn't know her story, you would have no idea the scars around her mouth are from the cougar attack she survived last summer.
Memorial Day weekend 2022, Lily was planning to spend time at a church camp near Fruitland, WA, with her family.
"I was so excited," Lily said. "I was kind of like, 'Okay, yay, I get to go to camp with my family. I was telling my whole school about it."
Lily said the first night was marked with eating marshmallows and playing games.
The next morning, she said her, her sister and cousin went to go play hide and seek near the camp.
Lily said she found a good hiding spot and waited for her cousin or sister to find her, but said something else found her.
"I was looking back maybe three times or two," Lily said. "And then I saw this cougar and I was like, 'Oh, my gosh, is that a lion? Is that a lion?' So I started freaking out. So I tried to run. But it just like, jumped on me. And so I fell to the floor. I turned around and I started just fighting for my life."
Lily said shock took over her body, but she never loss consciousness.
She said she remembers everything that happened.
"I was really just fighting the whole time," Lily said. "I saw that I was in blood. And like, the animal's biting my head really hard. I was kind of like, I think my brain is gone. How am I even alive? I just keep on looking at the animal and it drags me and keeps on dragging me."
Lily's mom said Lily was dragged 60 feet.
"Then he keeps going back to my head and then my fingers and then my body. And it keeps on dragging me and I'm kind of like, oh my gosh, what am I supposed to do? I just scream as hard as I can. Then I just keep on going down the hill. I just have a feeling that I'm not going to make it."
During the attack, she said she prayed God would protect her and everything would be okay.
"I was just praying that God can save me,” Lily said.
Lily said the cougar eventually dropped her and an adult from the camp came to rescue her.
She was quickly airlifted to Sacred Heart Medical Center.
"Whenever we arrived in the hospital, I was kind of like, 'Oh boy, and I was just complimenting people as much as I can, because I thought maybe I'll just die randomly or something," Lily said. "I just want them to feel nice, so they won't be afraid of anything. So I started complimenting the people, and then they're telling me what I'm gonna feel and I'm like, okay, and then I just fall asleep."
- Lily went into a coma for two days. While at the hospital, she underwent countless hours of surgery and treatment.
Lily's mom said doctors told her Lily needed 400 to 500 stitches.
When she woke up, she said she was surrounded by flowers, cards and gifts.
"Everybody was kind of like, 'Is your face okay?' And I'm like, 'Yeah, I was just attacked by cougar.' And they're like, 'Really?' And I'm like, 'Yeah.' I didn't know this many people would actually just come up to me and just ask what happened and stuff. I was kind of like, okay, I never really had this feeling before. Everybody was kind of like, all over me."
A GoFundMe for Lily raised over $100,000.
Now, one year later, Lily said she’s still getting laser treatments and going to eye appointments.
She said she can't be in the sun for too long because of her scars.
She said she’s also learning to heal emotionally.
“Cougars are a big part of my life now," Lily said while wearing a 'This Girl Loves Cougars t-shirt. "I feel like they were a really interesting animal to learn about. And even if I do run into one or attacks me, I still feel like they know something already happened. And I feel really brave with wildlife now. I even want to go in the wild right now. I just want to walk through forest and see bears, a whole bunch of big animals and especially cougars.”
Lily said she's learned a lot about cougars and taken up a new found interest in the animal.
"I feel like they, honestly, are really cool," Lily said. "I feel like nobody can like even see them a lot because like it's really rare to see one. I was kind of like, maybe people should know more about cougars and like how they are and maybe they know something, we don't. I feel like maybe we should learn a bit more about them. I really like them. They're just really important to me."
Lily said she may even become a person who works with big cats because of her experience last summer.
Lily's mom said her daughter has been able to seek out closure following the attack by understanding cougars more and being able to take home the skin and skull of the young male cougar who attacked her.
As a form of education and therapy, Lily was invited to remove the collar from a cougar with the wildlife program Kalispel Tribe of Indians. The research study aims to keep cougars from being habituated to humans and livestock.
Lily even made a song, dedicated to the cougar.
The 10-year-old said she's looking forward to being back outside this summer.
She said she's excited to spend time with friends, attend horseback riding camp and hang out with her new baby sister.
Check out the full interview with Lily below:
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