Woman Mauled by Chimp Speaks Her Nurse’s Name Upon Waking

Today on a national news program, a nurse was given credit for something pretty outstanding. One of the first words Charla Nash spoke upon emerging from a medically induced coma was “Lisa,” the name of one of her nurses, according to one of her brothers on the Today Show this morning. The Connecticut woman, who was mauled by her friend’s chimpanzee in February, sustained horrific injuries, so bad in fact that according to the Daily News the nurses and physicians who treated her were offered counseling afterward. She has since been recovering at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, the first hospital to perform a face transplantation in this country. Nash’s prognosis was pretty bleak for a while, but this morning her brothers said that she’s now able to sit up and to speak with the aid of an artificial voice box. Steve Nash attributed her response to the nurse to the fact that the nurses “had always talked to

[Charla] as if she were awake.” If you would like to learn more about Charla Nash—the person, mother, sister, and friend—and send her an e-mail of encouragement, go to www.friendsofcharlienash.com, which has been set up by her family.

–Christine Moffa, MS, RN, AJN clinical editor