Chimp attack victim is ‘strong,’ her brother says

[MiniMe]

Chimp attack victim is ‘strong,’ her brother says
Charla Nash’s twin sibling trying to keep emotions in check as she recovers

By Mike Celizic
TODAYShow.com contributor
updated 9:40 a.m. ET, Thurs., March. 5, 2009
More than two weeks after she was savagely mauled by a friend’s pet chimpanzee, a Connecticut woman remains under heavy sedation, fighting for her life. Meanwhile, two brothers and her teenage daughter are coping with the prospects of a recovery process that — should she survive — will take a very long time.

“This will be years — hard for one family to deal with,” Charla Nash’s twin brother, Mike Nash, told TODAY’s Meredith Vieira Thursday in New York. “You got your personal life, and you got a relative far away. just hard to deal with everything.”

Charla Nash lost her hands, nose, lips, eyelids and bone structure in her face in the Feb. 16 attack in Stamford, Conn., and may be blind and suffering brain damage, according to the Cleveland Clinic, where the 55-year-old woman is being cared for. Her injuries were so horrific that even the doctors and nurses and technicians who battled to save her life were shocked.

Will to live
News reports have talked about the possibility that she may be a candidate for a face transplant, but doctors have cautioned that it is too early to discuss that yet. Right now, they are focused on just keeping her alive.

Described as a strong-willed, outgoing and independent woman who loved horses and was once a rodeo barrel racer, Charla Nash has a 17-year-old daughter, Brianna. The daughter is currently staying with Mike Nash, her uncle, who told Vieira that he and Brianna visited Charla in the hospital.

“She has seen her mom,” Mike Nash told Vieira, adding that Brianna is “a strong young lady. We went in, said a prayer. It’s horrific, but she’s strong and knows her mother’s strong.”

That assessment was confirmed by Dr. Kevin Miller, the lead surgeon who saved Charla Nash’s life when she was brought to Stamford Hospital by local EMS personnel. “Her will to live is what got her through,” Miller told Vieira.

/snip...

Mike Nash told NBC News that his sister does not have health insurance. He said her family has set up a Web site, nashtrust.com, for those who want to follow her progress and contribute to her care.

Charla was attacked when she answered a call from the chimp’s owner, Sandra Herold, to help settle the 200-pound animal down. Herold, 70, runs a towing company for which Charla worked as a dispatcher. The two women were friends, and Charla was well known to the 15-year-old chimp, Travis.

edited to add link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29526966/


OMG, this is the first I've heard about all the damage done by Travis. Sending Charla healing vibes

[eek]

1. No health insurance? OMG!!!!

No health insurance on top of all the rest of this horrid story?
Also, I didn't realise Charla had come over to help her employer "settle down" the chimp.
Thanks, Boss!

[luvspeas]

2. some employer!

Your duties include:
Dispatching trucks
Calming down 400 lb. adult male chimp
benefits include:
--------

[MiniMe]

5. The no health insurance got to me too

The bills have to be astronomic already.

I don't put too much on the empoloyer/employee relationship, they were also friends.

[get the red out]

3. Sandra Herold

should go to jail. Period. No one should own an animal that belongs in their own habitat.

[bdamomma]

4. What a terrible situation for that woman.

Sandra Herold should be held accountable for having an animal that clearly belongs in its own inhabitant.

[MiniMe]

6. Evening bump