When Connie Culp’s husband shot her in the face in 2004, her life was forever altered. She was completely unrecognizably after it completely destroyed 80% of her face, including her nose and cheeks. She miraculously made it through, but her future was in jeopardy. One child even called her a “monster” while they were shopping. ”.
But Connie was given a second chance at life five years later. Thanks to a kind donor, she underwent the first almost complete face transplant in the US. The Cleveland Clinic surgeons worked tirelessly for 23 hours to complete the procedure.
She received a completely new face after additional procedures and surgeries. And the outcome was nothing short of extraordinary.
When Connie Culp and her husband, Tom, first met and fell in love, they hadn’t even finished school. They then set out on an unknown adventure. When they were 16 years old, they fled together even though they weren’t quite sure what they were doing.
The couple eventually decided to open a bar in an Appalachian town. Despite their intense love for one another, Connie’s husband didn’t treat her well.
“My relationship with Tom was similar to how I felt about living with my father. I followed his advice when he gave it to me. He called me names and made fun of me. I just assumed it was a normal way of life because my dad did it too,” she said to Oprah.
Connie started to speak up for herself after years of receiving unfair treatment.
He would push me, and when other people saw it, she says, “I would get up and say, ‘I’m a good person, and I don’t deserve that.'”. He was unaccustomed to my responding. ”.
But on September 21, 2004, Connie’s life underwent a permanent change. Her husband shot her in the face after accusing her of making out with another man. Then he pulled the trigger and turned it on himself, but he lived.
Connie was able to locate Bonnie, her twin sister, by going downstairs. Then Bonnie called Alicia, Connie’s young daughter.
Her daughter recalled, “I always knew that he had the potential to really hurt somebody, but I just didn’t think it would be my mom.”.
Connie’s nose, cheeks, the roof of her mouth, and one of her eyes were broken by the explosion. Only her upper eyelids, forehead, lower lip, and chin were unharmed; the rest of her face was covered in fragments.
Of course, the charge was horrifying. Connie claims that she was unaware of the extent of her injuries at the time.
You’re actually in shock, she said, adding that you have no feelings. “Your adrenaline is moving so quickly there was no discomfort. ”.
Fortunately, there was an EMT nearby. To stop the bleeding, he grabbed some ice and covered her severely hurt face with it.
My face started to slide downward, I could feel it.
Connie needed to breathe through a surgical incision in her neck, was left partially blind, lost her ability to smell and speak, and was mute. To even be alive was a blessing for her.
“I stopped smelling. My eye and nose were lost. They had to wire my jaw shut. During the incident, I didn’t lose any teeth, but the top of my mouth deteriorated, and I eventually lost the entire top of my mouth, according to Connie.
My face was slipping down, I could feel it”.
A seven-year prison term for her husband was later imposed. In 2009, Connie claimed that she had forgiven her husband that very day. But eventually, the couple got a divorce.
I will always love him. [I mean, I’m married to him and have two children. She admitted to ABC that she could no longer be with him. “I won’t let anyone talk about that; I considered it for six years. Now, it’s a fresh start, you know what I mean. I look different now. I’ve changed. ”.
30 surgeries were performed on Connie over the course of the following five years as they tried to reconstruct her face. Face transplants weren’t very common at the time. In reality, nobody had ever gotten one in the US.
As the first person in the US to get a new face, Connie would become a pioneer. Naturally, she would have to travel for a very long time before her journey was finished.
Connie made an effort to go about her daily activities normally while she waited. Unfortunately, she was the target of insults from people she didn’t even know.
It was “monster” Connie Culp.
A child once told her she looked like a monster as she was shopping.
According to Connie, the boy pointed in her direction and said, “You said there weren’t any real monsters, Mommy, but there’s one right there.
Connie replied, displaying her driver’s license to the youngster to demonstrate her former appearance, “‘I’m not a monster,'”. “I was shot, and I am a person. ”.
Connie underwent a number of physical and psychological examinations to ensure her emotional stability and overall health. Unfortunately, they had no idea when or even if they would ever find a donor, and she was aware that the ground-breaking procedure might not succeed. There was even a chance that she might look even worse than before the shooting.
The Culp family then received some wonderful news on December 9, 2008, all of a sudden. The Cleveland Clinic had located a donor, a woman by the name of Anna Kasper.
Anna’s relatives spoke highly of her as a kind and lovable person. Sadly, she had walked out onto her back porch, lit a cigarette, and then passed away from exposure to the elements. Her family was sure that Anna would have wanted to donate her face to aid another person in need.
Ron Kasper, Anna’s husband, observed that Connie and Anna are similar in many ways.
“As far as her personality, how much she loves life, how much she smiles, and how she still manages to have such a great attitude after everything she’s been through, and she takes everything in stride. ”.
He continued, “She’s a very special person.”. “Also present was Anna. ”.
“She’d be patient with her. She’d give her cash. She gave many things to others that she didn’t have, Ron continued. “We were aware that she would want to donate her organs when they inquired about it. ”.
“We were certain that it was what Anna would have preferred.”.
Ron remarked, “Everything blended in so seamlessly. “There wouldn’t be an open casket because we were aware that Anna wanted to be cremated. Additionally, Anna had already donated her organs. And that Anna and the match were a miracle in and of themselves. ”.
We knew it was what Anna would have wanted, though, and that was the deciding factor. ”.
In order to sew Anna’s skin, muscle, teeth, bone, veins, and arteries onto Connie’s face, Cleveland Clinic surgeons worked for 23 hours on December 10, 2008. The doctors put in a lot of time and effort to make it work, and the procedure was a huge success.
“From a technical, surgical, and philosophical standpoint, this is amazing. The recipient’s face is adopting and accepting the face of someone else, according to Dr. Maria Siemionow of the Cleveland Clinic, who led the team performing the transplant surgery.
“You can see a live person who is joyful that her life has returned. ”.
Connie faced a difficult road ahead after the transplant, requiring frequent biopsies and a lot of anti-rejection medication.
Connie’s face was transplanted in the hopes that it would restore her to some degree of normalcy; however, there were concerns that it might not work. Any number of difficulties, even death, could have resulted from that. Thankfully, Connie survived, but her road to recovery was difficult.
Given that her donor provided the facial muscles, she had to relearn how to speak. Connie had to even re-learn how to walk after spending many days in bed. She had to “learn” many scents as well, including those of coffee and chocolate, which her brain had forgotten. ”.
The face transplant on Connie Culp.
After fifty-eight days since the face transplant operation, Connie was finally allowed to leave the hospital and check into a nearby hotel.
“You know, it was scary when I walked out,” Connie reflected. “Due to their white coats, all I could see up front were my doctors. I didn’t even notice the journalists. I think the one day I was happy to be blind was that one. ”.
She eventually had the opportunity to head back to Unionport, Ohio, which is located about an hour outside of Pittsburgh. Despite having gone through hell, she never lost spirit or humor.
She recalled that she had started making jokes right away. It is a miracle, she continued. “I believed that I would have to maintain my current appearance for the rest of my life. ”.
Connie understood right away that getting a face transplant was more about improving her function than it was about regaining her appearance.
She told the Post-Gazette, “The importance of a face transplant was getting my mouth back in order and letting me smile again.
And I can now eat solid food and drink from a cup, for example. In the past, I was forced to only eat soft foods and use a straw constantly”.
Connie’s life was once again changed as a result of the transplant. She started taking her dog for walks and playing darts with her buddies. She claimed that, above all, people stopped glancing at her. A successful face transplant was performed. Her self-confidence and strength increased as a result.
