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Sports blog: Stamford Sports Scene

By CHASE WRIGHT

Times Staff Writer


STAMFORD -- The Stamford woman whose face was mauled and bitten by a rampaging chimpanzee has been transferred to the Cleveland Clinic, which two months ago performed the nation's first facial transplant.

Charla Nash, 55, was transferred from Stamford Hospital to the Cleveland Clinic on Thursday, three days after an attack by her friend's chimp left her with extensive injuries to her face and hands.

Bill Ackley, an emergency medical worker who was among the first to tend to Nash, said medical workers found her face down Monday in friend Sandra Herold's driveway, completely unrecognizable. The first police officers on the scene couldn't tell if the body was male or female, and warned dispatchers that the victim's face was ripped away.

Spokeswoman Eileen Sheil said Nash was being seen by a head and neck surgeon and likely will be treated through a team approach involving many specialists.

"I don't know at this point" if a transplant will be considered, Sheil said. "Priority one is to stabilize her."

Four teams of surgeons specializing in hand, plastic, orthopedics, ophthalmology, trauma and anesthesia performed more than seven hours worth of surgery on Nash Monday to stabilize her. She left Connecticut in critical condition, although with her vital signs slightly improved since the operation, hospital officials said.

Nash's transfer to Cleveland likely is because of the clinic's expertise in facial reconstruction -- not because doctors are considering a transplant right away, a leading surgeon said.

"This is a difficult time for the patient and she will need to adjust to it first. All the other options should be discussed first" before something as radical and risky as a transplant is considered, said Dr. Bohdan Pomahac, a reconstructive surgeon at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

In December, surgeons at the Cleveland Clinic completed the nation's first facial transplant, of an unidentified woman who suffered a traumatic injury several years ago. The injury left her with no nose, palate, or way to eat or breathe normally.

It was the fourth partial face transplant in the world, though the others were not as extensive. Nor were any done as emergency operations, said Dr. W. P. Andrew Lee, chief of plastic surgery at the University of Pittsburgh.

"It would be unusual" to perform one so soon for Nash, he said. To consider it, doctors must make sure she is medically stable, that alternatives have been carefully considered, and that she truly had given informed consent, because a transplant requires taking anti-rejection drugs lifelong, Lee said.

That could conceivably be done in a matter of weeks, but "to find a suitable donor with matching skin color and size and other features, that's a practical limitation," he said.

Nash was attacked Monday by his owner's 14-year-old pet chimp named Travis, who was shot and killed by police. The owner has said her chimp's behavior was completely out of character, speculating that Travis was being protective of her when he attacked Nash, who was driving a different car and wearing a different hairstyle when the chimp attack.

On Thursday, a second victim came forward saying the same chimp who mauled Nash this week bit her over a decade ago.

Leslie Mostel-Paul, formerly of Stamford, said in an interview broadcast that Travis the chimp bit her hand and tried to pull her into a vehicle in 1996 when she reached in to greet him.

Animal experts say because of his young age, Travis' 1996 attack may have been nothing more than playful aggression.

Chimpanzees usually start biting by two-years-old, which is about how old Travis would have been in 96', said Pricilla Feral, president of the international animal advocacy group Friends of Animals. "At that age they may not mean to harm you, but their aggression is not something you can manage," she said.

Gregg Dancho, zoo director at the Beardsley Zoo in Bridegport said even in their early years chimps should be considered dangerous animals.

"I don't think we could say that (Travis) was predisposed to be a bad animal," said Dancho. "That's chimps. They're still a loaded gun that can go off anytime."

Police are investigating what could have led Travis to suddenly go berserk and attack a face he was so familiar with. They haven't ruled out the possibility of filing charges, and have said they're interested to see the results of the necropsy, which should be released in the next few weeks.

The owner has said she fed Travis Xanax moments before his rampage in an effort to calm him down.

Beardsley Zoo veterinarian Dr. Howard Hochman said while highly unlikely, a dose of Xanax could have made Travis more aggressive prior to the attack. He said Nash's altered appearance was likely the prime contributor.

"Primates have a naturally aggressive and protective way about them," said Hochman. "As they mature it gets riskier and riskier."



The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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