Recovery in Doubt for Chimp Victim

(NEWSER) - Charla Nash, the Connecticut woman nearly mauled to death by a friend’s pet chimp, has been making dramatic progress in recent weeks and is now talking, moving, and asking for her daughter, the New York Daily News reports. Doctors had feared Nash would never recover. “For a time we were very worried,” said her twin brother, Stephen. “Now it’s more hopeful.” More»

Charla Nash hopes to undergo additional reconstructive surgery

(NEWSER) - Charla Nash, who was mauled and blinded by a friend’s chimpanzee in February 2009, left the Cleveland Clinic yesterday. She “has made great progress in her recovery,” the hospital said in a statement. Nash will continue rehabilitation at a Boston-area assisted-living center and hopes to undergo more reconstructive surgery, the AP reports. In January, the Cleveland Clinic told Nash’s family it could not perform a face and hand transplant. More»

'I want the nightmares to stop,' says Charla Nash

(NEWSER) - 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. More»

Facial reconstruction experts to aid woman suffering horrific injuries

(NEWSER) - The woman whose face was horrifically injured by a crazed chimpanzee has been transferred to the clinic that performed America's first face transplant, the Stamford Times reports. The woman was in surgery for 7 hours after the attack on Monday and was still in critical condition when she was transferred yesterday, although her vital signs had improved slightly. More»

Animal was surrogate spouse for his owner

(NEWSER) - Sandra Herold and her chimp, Travis—who viciously mauled her friend—were unusually close, sharing wine and lobster and exchanging gifts, the New York Post reports. “What she had with that monkey was not normal,” one friend said. But Herold said outsiders don’t understand: “Until you've eaten with a chimp and bathed with a chimp, you don't know a chimp,” she said. “He slept with me every night. He combed my hair.” More»