A Connecticut woman who made national headlines in February after she was mauled by a 200-pound chimpanzee appeared on “The Oprah Show” Wednesday, revealing for the first time in public the full extent of her injuries. And while the sight of Nash’s disfigured face was indeed shocking, it was her remarkably strong spirit that was most compelling.
On Feb. 16, Nash, 56, was trying to help a long-time friend get her pet chimp, Travis, back inside his cage after he had escaped when the animal turned on Nash and savagely attacked her. The chimp ripped off her hands, nose, lips and eyelids, and broke most of the bones in her face.
Against all odds, Nash miraculously survived. Doctors had to remove her eyes, leaving her blind. With nothing but a mound of transplanted skin for a nose and a small opening for a mouth, Nash can only breathe through a tracheal tube. To eat, she has to sip fluids through a straw. In June, we brought you the story of her recovery as told by her brothers. At the time, her brothers credited her fighting spirit for her speedy recovery. Now for the first time, Nash is speaking out in her own words.
She met with Winfrey at the Cleveland Clinic where she continues to recover.
“I’ve always known that I’ve been strong,” she told Winfrey. “If I couldn’t do anything, I just took my time, took a breath and then tried it again.”
She does admit, however, that at first she thought about giving up.
“In the beginning, I was unhappy,” she said. “[But] my brothers made it easy. It made me realize how much I needed them.”
Nash also draws strength from her 17-year-old daughter, a senior in high school who is living with friends in Connecticut while her mother recovers in Ohio.
Mercifully, Nash has no memory whatsoever of the day of the attack and the first few months of her recovery.
She appeared on the show with a veil over her face, but agreed to remove it about halfway through the interview. She said she covers her face for the benefit of others, but that she wasn’t worried about what people might think of her face after seeing it on national television.
“People are going to say what they’re going to say,” she says. “I need to move forward and get better and stronger.”
Nash told Winfrey that she avoids asking doctors about the extent of her injuries, preferring instead to remain focused on her recovery, one day at a time.
We’re pulling for you, Nash.
Read the full story and see before and after photos here.