Charla Nash Reveals Face Transplant After Brutal Chimp Attack


Posted on Aug 11, 2011 @ 02:00PM  
Splash News

By Amber Goodhand - Radar Reporter

For the first time, we’re seeing Charla Nash’s new face -- she’s the woman who was brutally attacked by her friend’s chimpanzee two years ago and lost most of her face, but underwent a revolutionary face transplant three months ago.

“I’m beginning to feel my jaw and chin. And I can move my mouth and smile,” Nash told the Today show. “I still feel weak...but little by little I’m getting stronger.”

The progress and recovery of Nash’s face transplant is remarkable and it took a team of more than 30 surgeons and nurses nearly 20 hours at a hospital in Boston to rebuild her face.

Watch the video on RadarOnline.com

“New hope has been sparked. It’s just so nice to see her ready to get at it again,” Nash’s 17-year-old daughter Brianna said. “For her to make an expression...it’s just nice that her body language can express how she feels.”

Nash has been unable to eat solid foods since the 2009 incident, but thanks to her face transplant she was able to eat eggs and cream cheese for her first non-liquid meal.

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Nash, 57, also had her hands torn off by the chimp and underwent a double hand transplant at the same time she got her new face, but they had to be removed after complications caused low circulation in the new hands.

The donor of Nash’s new face has been kept secret and the lead surgeon Dr. Bodan Pomahac said, “From what we know, she will not resemble the donor. She will be looking like someone a little different than she was before the accident, but different than the donor.”

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Nash will continue with intensive therapy and her brother Steve says the family is “optimistic” about her future.

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Someone mentioned Lindsay Lohan and it is amazing when you think that she has so much on the outside but nothing on the inside then you take someone who has suffered so much and lacks so much on the outside but has it on the inside.

by earlybird
Posted Fri, 08/12/2011 - 5:50am

the human spirit is amazing.so is today's technology. nothing short of a miracle. sometimes i wish for extravagant things & then people like Charla come along: reminds me i am blessed 100fold & the life i have & the people in it are so very precious.

by gossip4fun
Posted Fri, 08/12/2011 - 2:45am

It's nice yes but don't forget, she is completely blind from the attack. Plus has no hands. Poor soul.

by Tazlena
Posted Thu, 08/11/2011 - 7:42pm

Wow! She looks amazing! So happy for her and I wish her a speedy recovery.

by JonGosselinIsAnIdiot
Posted Thu, 08/11/2011 - 4:22pm

I think Lindsay Lohan should get the same transplant, it would be a big improvement, LOL

by monkey2010
Posted Thu, 08/11/2011 - 4:16pm

This is a miracle. The woman had no face and now looks normal and can feel and taste again. I hope she eventually gets some sort of hands and can live a fairly normal and happy life. She certainly deserves it!

by amagod121
Posted Thu, 08/11/2011 - 3:55pm

I hope this is the beginning of a wonderful rest of her life! So happy for her!!

by rainbow
Posted Thu, 08/11/2011 - 3:25pm

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