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Eyeless Chimp Victim Recounts Ordeal on Oprah
'I want the nightmares to stop,' says Charla Nash
By Mary Papenfuss
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Posted Nov 12, 09 2:09 AM CST
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Updated Nov 12, 09 2:30 AM CST
(Newser)
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A woman viciously attacked early this year by a crazed pet chimpanzee discussed her ordeal and revealed her ravaged face on the Oprah Winfrey Show yesterday. Charla Nash lost her nose, lips, eyelid—and hands—in the attack by a Connecticut neighbor's chimp. Doctors also removed both eyes because of severe infection. "I want to get healthy. I don't want to wake up with nightmares," she said. Oprah gently lifted a veil from Nash's face to show stunned viewers the damage.
"I'm the same person I've always been. I just look different," said Nash, who has no memory of the actual attack and still lives in a Cleveland clinic. Nash said she does not touch her face often. "It feels like just patches of tape or gauze covering my face," she said. The chimp, Travis, was shot to death by police on the spot. Nash has sued her friend for $50 million. "I always told her to get rid of him, he's going to hurt somebody someday. He's too dangerous," Nash said.