Charla Nash reveals she is out of the hospital and back on medication after her face transplant started to fail - and the chimp attack survivor who lives alone dreams of riding horses again despite the fact she has no hands
- Charla Nash, 62, was hospitalized last week when her face transplant started to reject
- She is on the mend now and was healthy enough to sit down for an interview with Meredith Viera on Monday
- Nash says her face transplant started to reject because she had been tapering off of her anti-rejection medication as part of a military experiment
- She is now back on her medication and her transplant is healing
- It's been five years since Nash underwent the transplant surgery to repair her face, which was mangled in a 2009 attack by a chimpanzee
- While the attack left her permanently blind, and without any hands, Nash lives on her own and does some of her own shopping
- She is looking to getting a robotic arm and says she dreams of riding horses again
The woman who successfully underwent a face transplant after a brutal attack by a friend's chimpanzee, has sat down for an interview just days after being hospitalized for complications.
Charla Nash says her face transplant started to reject last week, after she started tapering off of her anti-rejection drugs.
'I had no idea what was going on,' Nash told the Today Show. 'But then this one biopsy said a slight rejection.'
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Face transplant patient Charla Nash sat down for an interview with the Today show, to detail her recent hospitalization. The interview which was taped on Monday, aired on Wednesday
Nash, 62, was hospitalized on Wednesday when her face transplant started to reject
The 62-year-old woman says she stopped taking her drugs as part of a military-funded study to see if transplant victims could safely quit their anti-rejection medications, which sometimes cause serious side effects like high blood pressure and diabetes.
Nash is now back on her medication, and doctors say her transplant should be accepted by her body again.
While the experiment didn't work for her, she says she doesn't regret it and is glad that she is taking part in a study that could help wounded veterans.
'It would help all the service men and women and other people getting hurt and needing transplants,' she said. 'The study is not a failure. They've learned so much from all my testing and my input. It'll help with the future going forward.'
Nash sat down with Meredith Viera to give an update about her life now, five years after undergoing a successful face transplant surgery.
Nash's transplant started to reject because she was tapering off of her anti-rejection drugs as mart of a military funded experiment. Nash pictured above recovering at the hospital
Nash lost her nose, lips, eyelids and hands when she was mauled in February 2009 by her employer's 200-pound pet chimpanzee named Travis in Stamford, Connecticut.
The animal, who appeared in commercials for Old Navy and Coca Cola, was thought to be domesticated since he would open doors, drink wine from a glass, eat at the dinner table, and dress himself.
He even used the computer as his owner, Sandra Herold, treated the chimp as if he were her son.
Travis tried to escape by taking Herold's car keys and attempted to use them on several cars.
Five years after the successful face transplant surgery, Nash lives on her own in Boston. Aides check up on her part of the week
Nash gets around the city using a car service for disabled persons, and loves to pick out her own clothes
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Herold, who died in 2010, tried to lure Travis back into the house and gave him an iced tea laced with Xanax.
When Nash, arrived at the house to help, the animal brutally attacked her.
Investigators suggested Travis may have mistook Nash, who was familiar with the chimp, as an intruder after she appeared with a new hairstyle.
The Xanax, which is used for anxiety in humans, may have also fueled Travis' aggression.
Herold stabbed Travis during the attack, but the 70-year-old failed to stop the animal. He was eventually shot to death by the police after he assaulted an officer.
Doctors also had to remove her eyes because of a disease transmitted by the chimp.
Nash pictured above holding a picture of herself before the 2009 attack that left her with a mangled face
The mother-of-one was attacked by Travis (pictured above with her) when she went to help her employer and his owner, Sandra Herold, when he escaped
Travis (pictured above with her) ripped off her nose, lips, eyelids, part of her jaw and hands when she was mauled in 2009
In her original face transplant surgery, doctors removed the face from the donor (left) including all underlying nerves and muscles (right)
They placed the donor's face on Ms Nash and connected each nerve, muscle and blood vessel
She later received new facial features taken from a dead woman. She also underwent a double hand transplant, but it failed when her body rejected the tissue.
'I've come a long way,' Nash said in her Today show interview, which aired Wednesday.
Despite being permanently blind, and having no fingers, fiercely independent Nash lives alone and often ventures out of her house to do her own shopping, thanks to a car service for disabled persons.
She told a Boston television station that she spends most of her days listening to audio books and exercising.
'I've always been independent. As far as the help, I have just what i need,' Nash said.
Right now, Nash is focused on getting a robotic arm, which will make it easier to feed herself. Already, a Go Fund Me page has raised more than $14,000 for this new prosthetic arm.
She's also considering moving back to Connecticut, so she can be closer to her daughter Brianna, who is a graduate student.
Her main goal at the moment is to get to the point where she can ride horses again.
'I'm ready. I want to ride horses again. I will,' she said.
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