Military hopes to learn from chimp attack victim
The U.S. military is keeping close tabs on Charla Nash, the former Stamford woman who was mauled by a chimpanzee. The Pentagon paid for her full face transplant in 2012 and is underwriting her recovery, in hopes of helping seriously disfigured soldiers.
- In this Friday, Feb. 20, 2015 photograph, Charla Nash climbs the stairs at her second-story apartment in Boston. Nash, who is blind with only one digit remaining on her right arm, lost her face, eyes and hands after being mauled by a chimpanzee in 2009. The military is hoping the information they learn from Nash’s rehabilitation can help young, seriously disfigured soldiers returning from war. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
- In this Friday, Feb. 20, 2015 photograph, a framed photograph of Charla Nash, taken before she was attacked by a chimpanzee, sits on a bookshelf at her second-story apartment in Boston. The Department of Defense is following Nash’s progress, after funding her full-face transplant surgery in 2011. Nash lost her face, eyes and hands after being mauled by her boss’s pet in 2009. The military is hoping the information they learn from Nash’s rehabilitation can help young, seriously disfigured soldiers returning from war. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
- In this Friday, Feb. 20, 2015 photograph, Charla Nash chats with a neighbor on the speakerphone in her bedroom at her second-story apartment in Boston. The Department of Defense is following Nash’s progress, after funding her full-face transplant surgery in 2011. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
- In this Friday, Feb. 20, 2015 photograph, Charla Nash smiles as her care worker washes her face at her apartment in Boston. The Department of Defense is following Nash’s progress, after funding her transplant surgery in 2011. Nash lost her face, eyes and hands after being mauled by a chimpanzee in 2009. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
- In this Tuesday March 3, 2015 photograph, Charla Nash drinks a cup of hot coffee through a straw while visiting a cafe in Boston. Nash, who is blind, lost her face, eyes and hands after being mauled by a chimpanzee in 2009. The military is hoping the information they learn from Nash’s rehabilitation can help young, seriously disfigured soldiers returning from war. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
- In this Tuesday March 3, 2015 photograph, Dr. Stefan Tullius, the Chief of Transplant Surgery at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, examines Charla Nash during an appointment at the hospital in Boston. The Department of Defense is following Nash’s progress, after funding her transplant surgery in 2011. Nash, who is blind, lost her face, eyes and hands after being mauled by a chimpanzee in 2009. The military is hoping the information they learn from Nash’s rehabilitation can help young, seriously disfigured soldiers returning from war. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
- In this Tuesday March 3, 2015 photograph, Dr. Bohdan Pomahac, the Director of Plastic Surgery and Transplantation at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, talks with Charla Nash during an appointment at the hospital in Boston. The Department of Defense is following Nash’s progress, after funding her transplant surgery performed by Dr. Pomahac in 2011. Nash, who is blind, lost her face, eyes and hands after being mauled by a chimpanzee in 2009. The military is hoping the information they learn from Nash’s rehabilitation can help young, seriously disfigured soldiers returning from war. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
- In this Friday, Feb. 20, 2015 photograph, Charla Nash checks the messages on her answering machine from a speakerphone in the bedroom at her second-story apartment in Boston. The Department of Defense is following Nash’s progress, after funding her full-face transplant surgery in 2011. Nash, who is blind with only one digit remaining on both hands, lost her face, eyes and hands after being mauled by a chimpanzee in 2009. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
- In this Tuesday March 3, 2015 photograph, Charla Nash grabs the arm of shuttle driver Roland Copeland as they walk from her front steps past five-foot high snowbanks toward a van outside her apartment in Boston. The Department of Defense is following Nash’s progress, after funding her transplant surgery in 2011. Nash, who is blind, lost her face, eyes and hands after being mauled by a chimpanzee in 2009. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
- In this Friday, Feb. 20, 2015 photograph, Charla Nash, who is blind, rests in her bedroom between her speakerphone and boom box at her second-story apartment in Boston. Nash, who lost her face, eyes and hands after being mauled by a chimpanzee in 2009, spends much of her time listening to the radio and books on tape. The military is hoping the information they learn from Nash’s face transplant rehabilitation can help young, seriously disfigured soldiers returning from war. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
- In this Friday, Feb. 20, 2015 photograph, a care worker brushes Charla Nash’s teeth, which were provided by an organ donor along with her face, at her apartment in Boston. The Department of Defense is following Nash’s progress, after funding her transplant surgery in 2011. Nash lost her face, eyes and hands after being mauled by a chimpanzee in 2009. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
- In this Friday, Feb. 20, 2015 photograph, Charla Nash sits in her favorite chair at her second-story apartment in Boston. The Department of Defense is following Nash’s progress, after funding her full-face transplant surgery in 2011. Nash lost her face, eyes and hands after being mauled by a chimpanzee in 2009. The military is hoping the information they learn from Nash’s rehabilitation can help young, seriously disfigured soldiers returning from war. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)