Chimp Attack Victim Battles Transplant Issues: Charla Nash’s Body Rejecting Face Transplant
Charla Nash, the chimp attack victim who received a face transplant five years ago, is experiencing rejection issues from the procedure. Her body hasn’t completely accepted certain aspects of the surgery.
According to Fox News, the Connecticut woman was taking part in an experiment that soon indicated her body was “moderately” rejecting her face transplant.
Nash underwent a face transplant after being mauled by a chimpanzee. The woman lost her nose, lips, eyelids, and hands when she was attacked in 2009 by her employer’s 200-pound pet chimpanzee in Stamford, Connecticut. Doctors were forced to remove her eyes because of a disease transmitted from the chimp.
Chimp attack survivor Charla Nash is back in the hospital tonight. Live report from the Brigham at 10 PM #fox25 pic.twitter.com/zIPbPJL8DG
— Ted Daniel (@tvnewzted) May 5, 2016
The attack survivor is back in a Boston hospital after doctors learned her body is rejecting tissue from the transplant.
Nash was suffering from several unusual patches on her face, said Shelly Sindland, her publicist. Doctors performed a biopsy and discovered that her body was rejecting the transplant, she said.
Dr. Bohdan Pomahac, director of plastic surgery transplantation at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, confirmed that Charla Nash is experiencing a “moderate rejection episode,” but that the transplant isn’t under any real threat.
Doctors were in the process of scaling back the anti-rejection drugs Charla had been taking since the 2011 operation. Anti-rejection drugs can leave patients predisposed to serious side effects.
Due to the rejection that the chimp attack victim experienced, doctors prescribed her the original medication. Dr. Pomahac said Nash will probably be discharged from the hospital in the next day or two.
“We expect this rejection episode to be resolved within the coming week,” Dr. Pomahac said in a statement.
Dr. Eduardo D. Rodriguez, chair of the Hansjörg Wyss Department of Plastic Surgery at NYU Langone, told the New York Post that most likely Nash’s doctors will adjust her medication as a means of reversing the rejection.
“An acute rejection episode can present itself when adjusting [immunosuppression] medications and for this reason it is monitored regularly,” he said. “An acute rejection episode can appear as a rash and it is typically treated by adjusting the medication regimen.”
For her part, Charla Nash said she gave it her all and that she knows the study will still be enlightening.
“I gave it my all and know my participation in the study will still be beneficial,” Nash said in a statement to the Associated Press. “I’d do it all over again, if I could. The men and women serving our country are the true heroes.”
As reports mentioned previously, the military funded the anti-drug experiment for Nash as a guide in assisting them with learning how to assist soldiers who’ve had transplants after fighting in war.
The Pentagon paid for the chimp attack victim’s transplant — and has provided grants to 14 medical facilities throughout the U.S. in its hand and face transplantation program. These extremities are the most frequently injured parts of the body in war.
“I’m just happy I had the chance to help,” said Nash. “I wish I could have done more. I believe in the power of prayer and appreciate everyone who is praying for me.”
Facial features from a dead woman were later used as part of Charla Nash’s facial transplant. A double hand transplant failed when her body rejected the tissue.
[Photo by AP Photo/Charles Krupa]
