STEVENS COUNTY, Wash. — Surrounded by stuffed animals and a butterfly balloon, nine-year-old Lily Kryzhanivskyy is healing.
The cuts and claw marks on her body are a painful reminder of what happened over Memorial Day weekend when she found herself being loaded into a Lifeflight helicopter.
"She's a very tough girl," Washington Fish and Wildlife Sgt. Tyler Bahrenburg said. "She's tougher than most grown men that I know."
Bahrenburg was off and playing with his kids last Sunday when his phone rang.
"It's a call you never want to get," Bahrenburg said.
A young girl had been attacked by a cougar while playing hide-and-seek with her friends at a Fruitland campground.
"I didn't know if the cougar was still one scene, if it was still alive, what the situation was so I was running code to get there as fast as I could," Bahrenburg said.
Meanwhile, Lily was landing at Sacred Heart Hospital, headed into emergency surgery and later the ICU. The cougar had been euthanized about 350 feet from where it grabbed Lily.
As Sgt. Bahrenburg investigated the scene, he couldn't help but wonder how Lily was doing. He was able to see for himself on Wednesday.
"She is very incredible, she is very strong," Bahrenburg said. "She was joking about things today, she wanted to interact with us and it was just an incredible experience."
Lily was also eager to tell the sergeant she tried her best to scare the big cat before it attacked.
"She talked about getting big, right?" Bahrenburg said. "She said, 'I'm little, but I got as big as I could.' Speaking to her about the incident, for how brave she was in the incident, and talking about all the things she knew about and how to deal with cougars, how to interact with cougars, she told me all these things."
Before this wildlife sergeant left, he had a surprise for Lily. Bahrenburg gave the girl some gifts and cards from local high school students, who wanted to let Lily know they're thinking about her.
"It's great to see this overwhelming support for her and I hope it continues," Bahrenburg said. "She could really use it, her family could really use it and just to keep her spirits high."
A GoFundMe set up for Lily and her family has already raised more than $87,000. Lily's family shared that she is out of the ICU and is now able to walk on her own.