David Mac Donald and his German shepherd, Gibson, continue to heal, both mentally and physically, after they were stabbed by an unknown man during a scuffle in Barrie’s downtown earlier this month.
A GoFundMe campaign, which was set up to assist the local man and his canine pal, has raised $5,285 as of Wednesday afternoon and has been helping him deal with the fallout and costs from the incident, and to move to a different neighbourhood away from the downtown core.
The violent attack occurred around 10 p.m. on Aug. 6 while Mac Donald was walking Gibson and he noticed three men kicking chairs and making a mess at Meridian Place.
In an interview, Mac Donald said he told the man to stop kicking the chairs around, from a short distance away from them, across the square.
A few words were exchanged and the assailant began walking toward him.
“If you come up to me, I’m going to hit you,” Mac Donald warned the man.
But the man kept coming.
“So I hit him,” said Mac Donald, in what he called an act of self-defence.
Mac Donald dropped the dog’s leash, and he and his dog began to run from the scene in the direction of home, he said. The suspect then gave chase.
The two stopped after a short distance, and the man stabbed the dog in its hindquarters with a knife.
As soon as Mac Donald saw the knife, he said his first thought was to flee again, but when he heard Gibson yelp in pain after being stabbed, he reacted to the man in defence of the dog.
When the scuffle began, Gibson bolted and ran toward home.
“He knew exactly where to go," Mac Donald said.
The men wrestled to the ground, with the suspect on top of Mac Donald, for a short time until they broke up.
“He wasn’t that strong,” he said, noting he fought off the suspect and held back his hand that was holding the knife.
“That scared the shit out of me,” Mac Donald said. “I’m a pretty confident person. I’ve never really shied away from confrontation before. I don't go picking fights and I’ve been in many fights in my life, but I’ve never had to fight for my life. That was scary.”
He wondered about others who could have been in his situation instead: “I can kind of handle it, but what about everybody else?”
Initially, Mac Donald said he didn’t know that he had been stabbed twice. That is, until he got halfway home.
“I was on the phone with 911, as I had to call my own ambulance, and I’m holding my side and I see blood, thinking ‘I think I’ve been stabbed,'” he added.
Mac Donald kept moving and didn’t care about his wounds until he got home and knew Gibson was there and OK.
Gibson had arrived home first at the back door of the house, where he laid down in a pool of blood.
As for Mac Donald, he said he suffered two puncture wounds in his side about an inch-deep between his ribs. He spent part of the night at the hospital and got home around 3 a.m. the next morning.
Later that day, his boss took Mac Donald and Gibson to the vet so the dog could be treated for its stab wound.
To Mac Donald's surprise, his employer and his boss’s daughter began a GoFundMe campaign online to help support Mac Donald and the costs of treating Gibson’s wound.
He certainly appreciates the effort, kindness and support of people who donated money.
“I was just blown away, it was overwhelming” Mac Donald said. “I didn’t know there were that many people who cared.”
He admits, though, the money has brought on a whole different level of pressure on him, “because I have a responsibility now to not squander people’s donations and be responsible.”
He said the donated money has helped cover the vet bill, and to help kick into gear his move to another neighbourhood where Mac Donald hopes to feel safer.
“It’s a life-changing thing,” he said of the stabbing and trauma it caused.
“I’m a lot softer now, because I know how quick it can all end,” he said of his outlook after the attack. “My perspective changed very fast.”
Mac Donald added he had no regrets when it came to defending his beloved dog, even if it meant getting stabbed.
He doesn't want to leave the neighbourhood, as he's moving in October, but wishes for more unity in the community when it comes to public safety, as people need to watch out for one another.
As for the suspect in the attack, he's still on the loose, according to police.
