Chimp attack victim's family sues chimp owner for $50 million

[WhateverLolaWants]

I always wondered what would happen with this.

[Mel1973]

This story STILL disturbs me.

[celeb_2006]

Woman mauled by chimp gets a new face - CNN.com

(CNN) -- A brutal mauling by a friend's pet chimpanzee left Charla Nash without a nose, eyelids, lips or hands. Police initially couldn't determine her gender. Doctors weren't sure if she would survive.
Now, more than two years later, physicians at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston have released the first post-surgery pictures of Nash since she received a full face transplant in May.
"These professionals first saved my life, then healed my wounds and strengthened me to face an uncertain future," Nash said in a statement Thursday.
"I will now be able to do things I once took for granted ... I will have lips and will speak clearly once again. I will be able to kiss and hug loved ones. I am tremendously grateful to the donor and her family."
Doctors who performed the surgery called Nash courageous.
"She inspired the team to do everything possible, using our collective expertise, to restore her quality of life," said Plastic Surgery Transplantation Director Dr. Bohdan Pomahac, after the surgery.
In February 2009, Nash was helping a friend coax her 14-year-old pet chimp, Travis, back into the house. When Nash arrived, the chimp, who had been featured in television commercials for Coca-Cola and Old Navy, jumped on her and began biting and mauling her. Police later shot Travis to stop the attack and he died of gunshot wounds.
The unprovoked attack sparked outrage from both animal rights activists and Congress which swiftly passed a bill prohibiting the purchase and transportation of primates across state lines.
Nash remained in critical condition for months and was moved to Brigham and Women's Hospital in June 2010, where she became the third person to receive a full face transplant at the hospital. Doctors also successfully attached two new hands, but a few days later Nash became sick and the hands were removed.
Nash called the loss a "bump" in the road to her recovery.
"I was given the chance to restore most of what I lost by coming to Brigham and Women's Hospital," she said. "Here, I received a new face ... that will allow me to be independent again and able to be a part of society."
Her new face, she said, has brought her back to life.

[sluce]

She looks good and it is amazing how the new face is beginning to take shape to look like she did before the incident. It was nice to see her daughter and brother interview on The Today Show yesterday and to know they will try the hand transplant again later.

[WhateverLolaWants]

I'm so glad something was able to be done for her.

[Honey]

• Now 58-year-old Charla Nash horrifically mauled by chimpanzee in 2009
• Had revolutionary full-face transplant in June 2011 and says she has feeling in various parts of her face
• Says she plans to sue state of Connecticut, seeking $150m in damages for not dealing with dangerous 200-lb chimp Travis

Despite losing her eyesight, lips, nose, and hands in a vicious attack by a rampaging chimpanzee in 2009, face transplant recipient Charla Nash says she feels at home in her new skin.
The brave 58-year-old woman, who nearly died in the horrific mauling, told the Hartford Courant exclusively that she feels no different than she did before the attack.
‘I just feel like it’s my face,’ she said. ‘It’s just not working real good.’

Brave face: After a full face transplant, chimpanzee maul victim Charla Nash is making a remarkable recovery and is gaining feeling in her new face


Before and after: Pictured before the attack, left, and after she received a full-face transplant, right

Ms Nash, a single mother from Stamford, Connecticut, told the Courant that she’s regaining movements in her face and can express herself with various motions.
‘Every day, my muscles get better,’ she said.
Sandra Herold, who owned the 200-lb chimp Travis, died of an aneurism in 2010. Ms Nash said that if she could say anything to her former boss and friend, she would say she is ‘sorry that all this happened. And, nothing we can change now.’

However, she added that Herold was ‘a trouble person’ that was more worried about her pet – who was shot and killed after the attack – than she was of her.
In past interviews, Ms Nash revealed that having a new face allowed her simple human pleasures – she has regained her sense of smell and can eat again.

Recovery: Six months in, Ms Nash showed off her face transplant surgery. Surgeons spent 20 hours re-building her features

Reconstruction: In the attack, her eyes, nose, and lips were mauled off

She is even regaining sensation in her forehead, cheeks, eyebrow, and nose.
But most of all, she’s learning how to smile. ‘It creases up here,’ Ms Nash told the Courant as she pointed at her mouth.
In the interview, Ms Nash also spoke of long years of rehabilitation, and the hope of regaining some semblance of independence.

'I have to depend on a lot of help. My life depends on really not being alone. I used to be very independent.'
-Charla Nash

‘I don’t know what the future’s doing (sic) to bring… so I don’t get my hopes up,’ Ms Nash said, though she added that she wants to progress far enough that she can again ride horses and live in her own house.
She said she misses simple things – like being able to bargain hunt, bask in the sunshine, or even look at her 20-year-old daughter, Brianna.
‘I have to depend on a lot of help,’ she said. ‘My life depends on really not being alone. I used to be very independent.’
She also gets phantom pains in her hands, despite the fact that they were removed after the 2009 attack.


Haunting image: Ms Nash is seen posing with the chimp a year before the attack

Courageous: The survivor first revealed her mauled face on the Oprah Winfrey show; before the surgery, she kept a veil over her face
Transplants added in surgery later had to be removed because of dangerous complications.
In an interview with ABC 7 last month, Ms Nash – who likes being called Charlie – said she doesn’t want anybody’s pity.
Furious George: She was attacked by 200-lb chimpanzee Travis in 2009

‘I don’t want anyone to feel sorry for me,’ she said. ‘I want to be like everyone else.’
There are very real financial concerns as well. Her surgery, care, and rehabilitation have cost millions.
According to the Courant, there is a $150million case pending against the state of Connecticut for allegedly not protecting its citizens from an unsafe creature.
One state employee reportedly wrote in a memo that Travis’ attack was ‘an accident waiting to happen.’
‘I hope that I do get my day in court,’ she said.
She has been told by doctors that she needs to work on bulking up, as she is still quite thin for her 5ft 10in frame.
Ms Nash, who was blinded in the 2009 attack, was fitted with brown glass eyes and hopes to get a double hand transplant after the first one failed.
She received a revolutionary full-face transplant at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston nearly two years after the attack.
The operation – performed by a team of more than 30 surgeons and nurses – and subsequent recovery were widely covered.
Prior to the surgery, she hid her face under a veil, saying that she chose to wear it ‘so I don’t scare people.’

Read more: Charla Nash: Astonishing progress of chimp attack victim 2 years after receiving full-face transplant | Mail Online

[Kat Scorp]

Does Connecticut still allow people to own chimps? Because if she wins the $150 mill and it makes Connecticut and other states rethink letting people own creatures own old world monkeys like chimps, apes and gorillas, then I'd say it would be a relief.

Not that those roaming lions and tigers recently changed those laws (Ohio?)

[Lenny]

I hope she wins. It's crazy to allow people to keep wild animals as pets. Not only can they be dangerous but it seems like a lot of the owners don't take good care of them. That chimp looks like he was fed with chocolate and chips.

[Lobelia]

Bless her heart, she's so brave. I don't know if I would have done nearly as well with this.

[witchcurlgirl]

She's very brave, and what happened to her is an unimaginable horror. However, the state of Connecticut is not responsible for her injuries. I'm not unsympathetic, but she was friends with the owner and she went there to help calm the crazed chimp. That was a risk that she took.

She claims she knew the animal was a danger and hung out around it anyway. That is not the state's responsibility.

[NVash]

Im not saying for one minute that what happened to her is not a travesty. But $150 million? From the state of Connecticut? Do they even have that kind of money? And isnt that a bit much?

[Brookie]

Im not saying for one minute that what happened to her is not a travesty. But $150 million? From the state of Connecticut? Do they even have that kind of money? And isnt that a bit much?

No, it's not too much. She lost her ability to do just about everything. It might not even be enough.

[kalirga]

Choose friends wisely.

Bless this lady's heart. She lost her eyesight, her hands, her nose. That's tragic no matter how it happened.