US Military Hopes To Learn From Victim Of Chimp Attack

http://media.boston.cbslocal.com/CBSBOS_1003201517440000000AA.mp4 BOSTON (AP) — Charla Nash never served in the military. She was horribly disfigured, not in combat, but in a 2009 attack by a rampaging chimpanzee. The Pentagon, though, is watching her recovery closely. The U.S. military paid for Nash’s full face transplant in 2011, as well as face transplants for a small group of other civilians. The agency is also underwriting Nash’s follow-up treatment at a combined cost estimated in the hundreds of thousands of dollars in the hope that some of the things it learns can help young, seriously disfigured soldiers returning from war. In the coming weeks, for example, Nash will take part in a military-funded experiment in which doctors at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital will try to wean her off the anti-rejection drugs she has been taking since the transplant. Nash jokes about sometimes feeling like a science project. But the 61-year-old daughter of an Air Force veteran said she gets real satisfaction out of letting the doctors use her for research, and she sees it as an opportunity to help wounded soldiers and “do something good out of all of this bad.” “They asked me, could they? I said, ‘Yeah, I’d be thrilled to help out in any way I could,'” said Nash, a former Connecticut resident who now lives on her own in Boston with the help of part-time aides. Nash lost her nose, lips, eyelids and hands when ...
Source: WBZ-TV - Breaking News, Weather and Sports for Boston, Worcester and New Hampshire - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Health Local News Seen On WBZ-TV Watch Listen Brigham and Women's Hospital Charla Nash Chimpanzee Attack Paula Ebben Pentagon Source Type: news