Woman Whose Face Was Ripped Off By Chimp In 2009 Reveals What She Looks Like After Face Transplant
[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
Charla Nash got a second chance at life, thanks to the miracles of modern medicine.
The name may not sound familiar, but you definitely heard her story. And never forgot it. Charla is the woman who was savagely attacked by a chimpanzee named Travis in February 2009. The chimp’s owner Sandra Herold called her pal Charla for help after Travis escaped. She arrived with an Elmo toy to get the animal’s attention, but things took a traumatizing turn as he began attacking her. And chimps are strong. During an interview with 60 Minutes Australia released last week, Nash recalled:
“The thing I heard the most was the chimp screaming.”
The attack lasted several minutes. During the process, Travis ripped off her hands, eyelids, nose, and mouth… And then began eating her.
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Herold tried to stop the near 200lb. animal by stabbing him with a kitchen knife, which was a devastating decision to make as Travis was her beloved pet. She recalled at the time:
“He looked at me like, ‘Mom, what did you do?’”
She could not pull Travis off of Charla though because he was just “too strong.” So she called 911 and instructed officers to shoot the chimp — which they did. Nash, barely clinging to life, was rushed to the ER. Thankfully they were able to save her life, but she was horribly disfigured.
She first revealed her face in an Oprah interview in 2009, something few have forgotten. Take a look (below):
You can hear her talk about the attack at the time in her full interview HERE.
Herold died of an aneurysm one year after the vicious attack, while Nash was left permanently disfigured. Or that’s at least what she believed for years.
In 2011, she received a full face transplant at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. The surgery was risky as it was only ever the third of its kind. But the US Military funded it in an effort to learn how it could help wounded veterans. So surgeons spent a whopping 20 hours rebuilding nerves and blood vessels to allow proper blood to flow to the new tissue attached to Nash’s face. During the procedure, she also received two new hands — but they unfortunately had to be removed after she developed sepsis after the operation.
Charla explained:
“I was amazed that I was still alive.”
She did more than just survive. She’s healed. A lot. The procedure gave her a new face! Charla’s daughter Brianna recalled the moments after seeing her mother wake up from surgery:
“I was really able to see the bone structure of her cheeks and it looked like her face — it was disfigured — but it was her face.”
See the shocking results (below):
WOW! That’s incredible.
The surgery has now offered Nash a second lease on life. She told the news outlet:
“It’s a wonderful thing and words can’t express the gratitude but I had this opportunity to live a better life.”
She’s slowly regaining feeling in her transplanted tissue, too:
“The nose and the upper lip I can’t feel yet, but little by little it’s coming back, I can feel my cheek and forehead, so it’s getting there.”
She added:
“I was only drinking everything from through a straw and my goal is to be able to eat again.”
Now 70, Nash lives in an assisted care facility and receives daily rehab and speech therapy:
“Life’s getting better, it is coming around slowly but yeah it’s getting better, It’s hard but it’s better.”
What amazing progress. We hope to see Nash enjoying her life some day soon. You can watch her full interview (below):
[Images via ABC News/YouTube]
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