After saving her godson from a dog attack, injured Charleroi grad finally gets her diploma

Anastacialisa Hartley missed her graduation as she was recovering from injuries she suffered while saving her godson from a dog attack.

Charleroi Area High School graduate Anastacialisa Hartley hugs her godson, Nico Harris, during a diploma ceremony at Charleroi Area High School on Tuesday. She saved him from a dog attack May 31 and was severely injured. Taylor Brown/ Mon Valley Independent

Anastacialisa Hartley missed two of life’s biggest milestones last month, but it was worth it to save the life of her godson, who means a lot more to her than a cake or cap and gown.

Hartley was supposed to walk across the stage with 89 of her classmates at Charleroi Area High School’s commencement ceremonies June 3, but instead of tossing her cap into the air and celebrating not only her graduation but her 18th birthday, she was undergoing emergency surgery.

On May 31, Ana, as her friends and family affectionately call her, was babysitting her godson, Nico, 5, in Denbo like she had done dozens of times before.

She was walking with him as he rode his bike through the neighborhood around 5:30 p.m. when she heard a chain dragging across the ground.

“I didn’t really think anything of it, but then I saw the dog running towards my godson because the chain must have broke,” she said. “I tried to step on the chain, but I missed and the dog jumped on him.”

Without hesitating, Ana grabbed the dog by the collar and told Nico to run.

The dog grabbed her left arm and drug her about 30 feet across the road on Second Street before neighbors heard her yelling for help and came to her rescue.

The dog’s owner, Troy Bradey, put the dog in a headlock and took it back to the house to be caged, while neighbors called 911 as they tried to stop the bleeding with a towel.

Bradey went back outside to help, and the dog’s chain broke, letting him out again.

It wasn’t the first time she had been attacked by a dog, making the incident more traumatic.

“When I was on the ground, I was screaming and just kept my eyes closed hoping someone would come,” she said. “I just wanted it to be over, but eventually help came.”

She was taken by ambulance to Penn Highlands Mon Valley Hospital and transferred to UPMC Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh, where she had emergency surgery to try to save her arm and reconstructive surgery on her right hand.

Ana was discharged from Children’s on June 1, but went back to Mon Valley Hospital June 3 due to swelling and was again transferred to Children’s Hospital for a surgical cleanup of her wounds.

While her friends and classmates accepted their diplomas, she sat in the hospital on her birthday.

“I was really sad,” she said. “I was supposed to graduate with my class, you know? It was my birthday. Nothing happened the way it should’ve, but at least my friends got to graduate and I was able to watch it on You-Tube. I just wish I would have been with them.”

Ana has spent several weeks recovering, and thankfully she won’t need any further surgeries, just a bit more physical therapy.

School district leaders know they can’t change what happened, but they wanted to do their best to give Ana the recognition and special moment she deserved.

On Tuesday, board members and administrators expressed pride in her bravery and thanked her family and friends for attending to celebrate her.

“We had our commencement June 3, but we missed something, someone very special,” Superintendent Dr. Ed Zelich said. “And tonight, we want to try again and get it right.”

Dress in a red cap and gown, with her family and friends in the audience, Ana was given her diploma by high school Principal Patti Mason.

“She really wanted to be there, but she was medically not able to be, because she saved a life, and thankfully now she is on her way to recovery and we want to present her with this diploma tonight so she didn’t miss out on this opportunity,” Mason said.

Ana beamed as she accepted it, but couldn’t help but cry as her friends and family cheered her on.

People clapped and whistled for her as she posed, with a teary-eyed smile, holding her diploma.

“It was just emotional for me because I missed it, you know, I felt like I should have been there and that wasn’t the way it should have been because graduation is a big moment.”

Though she missed the experience, saving Nico meant more to her.

“I knew as soon as it happened what I needed to do, there wasn’t anything to think about really,” she said. “I knew if it wasn’t me, it would have been him and it would have been a lot worse. If a 70-pound dog could do this to me, he’s only 70 pounds himself, so I’m just glad it was me and not him because who knows how bad it would have been.”

Ana’s cap was personalized with flowers and book pages with “My story continues” written on top, and lucky for her, it will.

“We’re so proud of you,” Zelich said, “so thankful for you and your family and friends who came to celebrate you and want you to know that you’ll always be a Cougar, and your bravery is second to none, it’s inspiring.”

She was given a cake and other gifts by the administration, but the diploma in hand meant more than anything.

Her mother, Alexis, couldn’t be more proud.

“I can’t stop crying, we’re just so, so proud of her, she’s my oldest and I just want to thank everyone who has been there for her, standing in her corner through all of this,” her mom said. “She’s a strong girl, we all knew that, but we’re all so thankful to the people who saved her. And as for Ana, in our eyes she’s a true hero.”

Ana has three younger brothers, Arie, Austin and Arthur.

She plans to attend college this fall, and wants to become a real estate agent.

On Saturday, she will celebrate with a graduation party with her family and friends at the Allenport Community Room.

She has a lot to look forward to, but is eager for justice to be served.

“It’s been hard and frustrating because the hearing still hasn’t happened yet,” she said. “I want this all to be over.”

Charges were filed June 11 against the dog’s owner.

Bradey is charged with dog attack causing serious injury or death, dangerous dog, confined within premises of the owner, nine counts of application of dog license/fees, penalties and nine counts of vaccination against rabies required stemming from the attack.

He faces a preliminary hearing before Magisterial District Judge Joshua Kanalis at 10 a.m. July 23.

The dog was euthanized after the attack.