When Charla Nash appeared on The Today Show this week for an interview with Meredith Vieira she nearly left the morning show host speechless.

Staring at the women who at one point had her face completely ripped off by a friend’s chimpanzee she stared in amazement as she told Nash:

“Wow. You really look fantastic,” and “I’m just—I— I apologize. I’m looking at your face and I am in awe.”

For a long time Nash rarely ventured out into public, fearing that her disfigurement would bring her unwanted stares and talk behind her back, however on Monday she revealed her new face to TODAY.

The donor face is still molding to Nash’s bone structure but the results are stunning, revealing cheek bone structuring, eyes where she is completely blind and other features that were indistinguishable just months earlier.

Speaking to Meredith the face transplant patient recalls one incident recently when a little girl said hello to her, while that might not seem like much of an accomplishment for Nash she says:

“That didn’t happen before … It was nice. The little girl was saying hi to me.  I looked like I’ve got eyes and everything. …I’m not scaring anybody.”

While Nash can’t see her new face or even feel it because her hands were also taken in the attack she says other people have given her the positive encouragement she was hoping for.

“I’ve had people tell me I’m beautiful,” Nash told Vieira. “And they were not telling me I was beautiful before.”

The journey towards a new face was not an easy one for Nash who had to undergo a 20-hour triple transplant surgery in which her face was transplanted and doctors also gave her two new hands, unfortunately there were problems with the hands because she had developed pneumonia shortly after completing the transplant and they had to be removed.

Even after finding out that she had hands that had to be removed she told Vieira:

“And it didn’t really bother me because I was too sick to worry about that, you know? … And then later on, I was disappointed that, you know, I had them and they’re gone again. But I’m hoping, you know, for in the future, that it can be done again.”

Doctors in the meantime plan to attempt another hand transplant for Nash within the next 12 months.

As for Nash’s face, doctors say it will mold to her own bone structure and within the coming months people walking by won’t even realize that she has had a transplant.

What do you think of Charla Nach’s new face?

Chimp Attack Victim Charla Nash’s New Face Revealed During Meredith Vieira Interview is a post from: The Inquisitr

Sandra Herold, the owner of a chimp that brutally mauled friend and employee Charla Nash, has died of a ruptured aortic aneurysm, her lawyer said in a statement.

Robert Golger, Herold’s lawyer, believes that the woman’s death on Monday night was a result of the events of the past year:

“Ms. Herold had suffered a series of heartbreaking losses over the last several years, beginning with the death of her only child, then her husband, then her beloved chimp Travis, as well as the tragic maiming of friend and employee Charla Nash,” wrote Golger.

For thirty years before Herold’s chimp Travis attacked Nash, the two women had been close friends. (Nash and Herold met in the 70s working at Loretta Lynn’s rodeo.) During the February 2009 mauling, the chimp “crushed Nash’s hands and ripped off a substantial portion of her scalp, face, jaw and eyes.”

Golger also said the stress of the “multi-million dollar lawsuit” following Nash’s mauling lead to Herold’s death:

“The stress of defending a multi-million dollar lawsuit and all that it entailed also weighed heavy on Sandy,” he continued. In the end, her heart, which had been broken so many times before, could take no more. In a world where too many people strive to just fit in, she stood out as a true individual. She marched to the beat of her own drum and was proud of it.”

Owner of chimp that attacked Charla Nash dies “of a broken heart” is a post from: The Inquisitr

New York Post Cartoon Controversy

The cartoon, created by Sean Delonas and printed in Wednesday’s New York Post, shows police shooting a chimp dead, then saying: “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill.”

Chimp Attack Connection

The image is presumably related to an incident in Stamford, Connecticut on Monday in which a chimpanzee escaped a woman’s home and attacked her friend. Officers ended up shooting and killing the animal.

The caption in Delonas’ New York Post cartoon is being interpreted by some as a reference to Obama, since — while he didn’t actually author it — he was the driving force behind the recently passed stimulus bill. The Rev. Al Sharpton tells the Associated Press the image is “troubling at best, given the historic racist attacks of African-Americans as being synonymous with monkeys.” Sharpton also called upon the Post to clarify its intentions with the drawing.

NY Post Chimp Cartoon Response

The New York Post countered Sharpton’s statement and declared it was standing behind the cartoon. The publication’s editor-in-chief issued the following response:

“The cartoon is a clear parody of a current news event, to wit the shooting of a violent chimpanzee in Connecticut. It broadly mocks Washington’s efforts to revive the economy. Again, Al Sharpton reveals himself as nothing more than a publicity opportunist.”

Cartoonist Sean Delonas went on to call Sharpton’s accusations “absolutely friggin’ ridiculous” during a phone interview with CNN Wednesday afternoon.

“Do you really think I’m saying Obama should be shot? I didn’t see that in the cartoon,” he said. “It’s about the economic stimulus bill. If you’re going to make that about anybody, it would be [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi, which it’s not.”

New York Post Cartoon: Connecting Chimp Attack With Obama? is a post from: The Inquisitr

Chimp Attack: “Lengthy and Vicious”

Investigators believe Travis got ahold of the house keys and escaped from the home. The chimp went outside and began banging on car doors, the New York Post reports. His owner, Sandra Herold, called her friend to help calm him down.

But when that woman, Charla Nash, arrived, things took an even worse turn. Reports indicate Travis jumped on Nash and started biting and generally attacking her. Officers describe the interaction as “lengthy and vicious.”

Herold was unable to pull the chimp off of Nash and ended up stabbing him with a kitchen knife and hitting him with a shovel — but Travis was still relentless in attacking the friend, police say. Herold called 911. When officers arrived, though, they say the animal went after them. They ended up shooting him “multiple times.”

Travis ran away and went back inside the house, where investigators later found him deceased.

Nash was left with serious injuries on her face, neck, and hands. Some neighbors report her hands may have been completely bitten off.

Travis the Chimpanzee: An Atypical Pet

Sandra Herold had owned Travis, the chimpanzee, for 15 years. Stamford police say they had been called to the home for an escape-related incident once before, in 2003. That time, Travis got out of the house and “wreaked havoc” on the neighborhood’s streets for a couple of hours before he was captured and brought back to Herold’s house.

Chimp Attack Video

The following news report shows video of Travis, along with images of the home and interviews with neighbors.

Chimp Attack: Pet Primate Steals Keys, Escapes Home, Mauls Visitor is a post from: The Inquisitr