This story is confronting, humbling, miraculous and extraordinary.
Five years ago, Connie Culp’s husband shot her in the face. Five months ago, surgeons in the US took the face of a woman who had been declared brain-dead and whose family agreed to donate her face, and attached it to where Connie’s face used to be.
According to media reports:
nation’s first face transplant, and her new look was a far cry from the
puckered, noseless sight that made children run away in horror. Culp’s
expressions are still a bit wooden, but she can…..
…..talk, smile, smell and
taste her food again. Her speech is at times a little tough to
understand. Her
face is bloated and squarish, and her skin droops in big folds that
doctors plan to pare away as her circulation improves and her nerves
grow, animating her new muscles.
But Culp had nothing but praise for those who made her new face possible. “I
guess I’m the one you came to see today,” the 46-year-old Ohio woman
said at a news conference at the Cleveland Clinic, where the
groundbreaking operation was performed.
Top Comments
I am truly amazed Connie is still alive. I was glued to the TV when the Foxtel show "I Survived" was on. The amount of abuse the human body can take never ceases to amaze me. Most of the victims say their strength came from wanting to live. Amen to that.
YoungMum - I agree - I would be so disappointed if I was from the doner's family.