Chimp attack woman may get life-changing face, hand transplants

The 57-year-old Nash was brutally attacked on Feb. 16, 2009 by a 14-year-old, 200-pound simian that left her blinded and her face horribly disfigured.

Nash, who has a 17-year-old daughter, was left with no eyes, mouth, eyelids and nose after the attack in Stamford, Connecticut.

Brutal chimp-attack
Nash was always a little afraid of the 200 lb. chimpanzee Travis that belonged to her boss Sandra Herold. She was attacked by the house-trained wild animal after Herold enlisted her to help get him back into her Stamford house.

Doctors initially told Nash that she was not eligible for the lengthy and dangerous reconstructive surgeries, citing the complexity of her injuries. But the disfigured woman has been given new hope at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Travis attacked Nash when she was helping Herold lure the chimp back inside the house. The angered chimp brutally attacked her, ripping apart her face, lips, eyelids and arms before cops ended the rampage by shooting him. Herold had kept Travis as a pet since its infancy.

Until now, she was being treated at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, where she underwent surgery and regular rehabilitation. It was only last week that she reportedly moved from the Cleveland Clinic to a Boston-area assisted living center, where she plans to continue rehabilitation.

Being evaluated for transplant
The chimp-mauled Nash is currently being evaluated by a team of physicians in Boston to determine if surgery can replace the nose, lips, eyes and fingers she lost in the frenzied attack, reports ABC News.

"Charla Nash is at Brigham and Women's Hospital for a preliminary evaluation to determine if she is a potential candidate for face and hand transplant. We expect her to be at Brigham and Women's for a couple of days," ABC News quoted hospital spokesman Peter Brown as saying in a statement.

New hope for Chimp-attack victim
Doctors initially told Nash that she was not eligible for the lengthy and dangerous reconstructive surgeries, citing the complexity of her injuries. But the disfigured woman has been given new hope at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

“We’re trying to figure out what’s there, what’s missing and what we would need to replace should it come to that,” said Dr. Bohdan Pomahac, the plastic surgeon who led the team that performed the nation's second face transplant at the Brigham last year. “She has been through a lot and is holding up remarkably well.”

Nash’s horrific injuries will be evaluated at the Harvard Medical School-affiliated hospital for a couple of days. But, a decision is not expected for months.

“She’s been losing hope and now I think we gave her hope,” said Dr. Pomahac. "I'm cautiously optimistic right now. It is certainly very, very challenging, but that's what we like. I have no doubt that she would greatly benefit from it.”

Severely injured Nash
Nash revealed her mangled face to the world for the first time while appearing for an interview on ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’ in November last year. She had nothing left in her face accept for her forehead. Doctors had to remove her eyes due to an infection.

Nash told Oprah at the time that she feels no pain on her face but never touches it just to avoid knowing the full extent of her injuries.

Her injuries are so severe that she eats everything through a straw and cannot breathe through her nose.