Woman who had facial transplant after chimp attack reveals what she looks like 16 years on

Daily Mail​

19-06-2025

A woman whose face was ripped off by a chimpanzee has revealed what she looks like 16 years after undergoing a life-changing face transplant.
In February 2009, Charla Nash, now 71, was attacked by her friend Sandra Herold's chimpanzee, Travis, at her home in Connecticut , who bit off her nose, lips, eyelids and hands.
Now, after undergoing a full face transplant in 2011 at Brigham and Women's Hospital in 2011, Charla told 60 Minutes Australia, the surgery 'brought my life back' as she expressed gratitude to the doctors.
She said: 'It's a wonderful thing and words can't express the gratitude but I had this opportunity to live a better life.'
She added: '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.
'I was only drinking everything from through a straw and my goal is to be able to eat again.'
Charlie, who lives in an assisted care center, undergoes daily rehabilitation and speech therapy.
She said: 'Life's getting better, it is coming around slowly but yeah it's getting better, It's hard but it's better.'
Charla said she is slowly getting feeling back in her face and has started to eat solid food again.
The military funded the facial transplant in order to learn more about how it could help wounded veterans, and Charla has been subject to medical tests ever since.
While her body rejected transplants on her hands, the facial surgery was successful.
Charla, who also was fitted with glass eyes, is blind after she had her eyes removed due to a disease transmitted by the chimp, who had worked as an actor and appeared in commercials for Old Navy and Coca Cola.
Charla, a former barrel racer and horse jumper, said she has become increasingly patient because she has had to ask for help instead of doing everything herself.
But she chooses to look to the future and dreams of living on a farm in a small town once she is finished with her medical tests.
Travis the chimpanzee was raised in Connecticut by Sandra Herold, who treated the pet as if he were her son.
The 200lb animal was thought to be domesticated since he would open doors, drink wine from a glass, eat at the dinner table, and dress himself. He even used the computer.
But on the day of the attack, Travis tried to escape by taking Sandra's car keys and trying to use them on several cars.
Sandra, who died in 2010, tried to lure Travis back into the house and gave him an iced tea laced with Xanax. When Nash, who was a friend and employee of Sandra's arrived at the house to help, the animal brutally attacked her.
Investigators suggested Travis may have mistook Nash, who was familiar with the chimp, as an intruder after she appeared with a new hairstyle.
They also believe the Xanax, which is used for anxiety in humans, may have also fueled Travis's aggression.
In return for footing her medical bills, she goes in for medical tests every few weeks.
She is subjected to MRIs and CT scans to determine how well her brain is sending signals to her new face. In addition, doctors examine how well the arteries are delivering blood to the transplant.
The military is also interested in monitoring the scarring around the mouth and how well her eyelids work.
In 2014, Charla revealed that she has no independence since the attack and that people were afraid to come near her.
Charla, who raised her daughter Briana on her own: 'I've never been a quitter'.
She also hopes to use her story so that others don't have to face a similar ordeal, and is working with advocates on a video to encourage stronger laws restricting exotic animals.
She said she never felt at ease with Travis being locked up in her friend's home before pal Sandra Herold, died of an aneurism in 2010.
She said: 'I remember looking at him in his cage and feeling sorry for him. My thoughts were always, "How is she allowed this animal in her house? What if he gets loose someday and somebody gets hurt?" I know the animals are cute - but they're just not pets.'
After the attack, her family sought permission to sue Connecticut for $150million for failing to seize the animal before the attack.
But the state claims commissioner denied permission, saying that state law did not prohibit the private ownership of chimpanzees at the time of the attack.
She was given $4million in compensation by the estate of the animal's now-dead owner.