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West Michigan Girl to Get New Ear After Animal Attack

Posted at 7:49 PM, Apr 14, 2014
and last updated 2014-04-14 20:34:40-04

Charlotte new earSPRING LAKE, Mich. (April 14, 2014)–A girl who was mauled by a raccoon when she was a baby should soon have a new ear.

It’s a surgery that’s only been done two times before. On Tuesday, doctors on the east side of the state will remove some cartilage from Charlotte Ponce’s ribs and create a mold by using her existing ear as a template.

The cartilage will then be placed in the girl’s forearm until the skin attaches to it and it’s ready to come out.

Ponce lost her ear at just 3 months old when she was attacked by a pet raccoon. She was taken from her biological parents’ custody and was soon adopted.

“This whole side of her face was completely scarred so she had probably at least three surgeries to try to take care of some of that,” Sharon Ponce, Charlotte’s adoptive mother, said.

Two years ago, the same doctor who plans to build her an ear gave her another special gift.

“Having her nose has brought her so much confidence,” Sharon said. “One thing I’ve noticed that people will tell me about Charlotte is that she will actually look them in the eye and she wouldn’t before.”

And now the confident 11-year-old, dressed in pink with lips that matched, said she hopes to become a cosmetologist.

“I like to do hair and makeup,” Charlotte said.

The doctor tells FOX 17 he plans to transplant the ear to the right side of Charlotte’s head in June.