12/13/2023 0 Comments Chimpanzee face surgeryThough vanity has to be put aside when someone faces a tragedy like Charla's, she says she was never a vain person. "If I don't feel good, I still push myself to walk during the day," she says. These days, Charla is working on getting up and walking around. The hand transplant will be done with it because they have to be done at the same time from the same donor." "I'm hoping somewhere along the line I'll be evaluated and that maybe when I get a face transplant. "I'm not a candidate for a hand transplant because I have no eyesight," Charla says. I always wanted everything good for her."ĭespite her setbacks, Charla has dreams for her own future. "We lay next to each other and we hold each other and we talk about things-what she does at school or with her friends." Next year, Briana will be heading off to college, which Charla says she's excited about. When Briana visits her mother, Charla says they just enjoy being together. I miss her too." Seventeen-year-old Briana is a senior in high school and is living with friends in Stamford while her mother is in Ohio. "I'm just sorry I can't spend more time with my daughter," she says. Though Charla says she's still the same person she was before the attack, there are things she misses. "I need to move forward and get better and stronger." "People are going to say what they're going to say," she says. However, Charla says she isn't really worried about the public reaction to the destruction that has occurred to her face. There has even been an armed guard posted outside Charla's door to protect her privacy from anyone who might want to photograph her. She has been keeping her face secret because she knows the tabloids having been angling for a picture of her. "Sometimes other people might insult you, so I figure maybe it's easier if I just walk around covered up."įor the first time in public, Charla agrees to lift her veil. She wears a veil in front of her face daily, but more for the sake of others than herself. "But the eye doctor came in a couple weeks ago and said that it's a shame they had to remove my eyes, and that's when I really knew."ĭespite her extensive injuries, Charla says she is not in any pain. They don't know what they're talking about,'" Charla says. "I do remember I kept saying that, 'Well, one of these days I'm going to see.' And then the doctors said, 'No, you're never going to see again,' and I'm like: 'Well, I don't know. When Charla awoke in the hospital after the attack, she says she couldn't at first understand what had happened to her. "I had tears in my eyes and was laughing and I told her, 'It hurts.'" "One time he was running around the yard and swinging off the trees of the house, and he jumped on my back and he pulled a big hunk of hair out of my head," she says. One thing Charla does remember, though, is that Travis the chimp had always been scary. I don't want to wake up with nightmares." "I don't want to remember, because I couldn't imagine what it was like," she says. "I'd like to put across to people's minds that these exotic animals are very dangerous and they shouldn't be around."Ĭharla says she can't remember anything from the day of the vicious attack, and she's glad for that. "I'm getting stronger and healthier," Charla says. On her 56th birthday, she opened up to Oprah. A large portion of her scalp is missing, she only has one thumb, and doctors have created a hole in her face for her to get fluids through a straw.įor the past nine months, Charla's been recovering at the Cleveland Clinic. Against all odds, Charla survived the brutal attack though the chimp broke most of the bones in her face and ripped off her nose, lips, eyes and hands.
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