Amazing!

http://www.fox8.com/wjw-news-face-transplant-text,0,4263414.story CLEVELAND, Ohio -- - Shot in the face by her husband four-years-ago Connie Culp of Hopedale Ohio was left disfigured. For four years she had no nose. The bony structure that once supported her face was gone, as was most of her face. She could not breathe other than through a tracheotomy, could not smell, could not even drink or eat normally. Several dozen reconstructive surgeries left her not much better off. Connie became afraid to go out in public where doctors say children would run away from her because of her appearance. Doctors at the Cleveland Clinic set out to try something that had never been done before, not to the extent they had planned for Connie, a total face transplant. Specialists say their purpose for even considering the surgery is not cosmetic. Their goal was to restore her facial functions and to give Connie the ability to eat and breath, to smell and to interact socially as normally as possible once again. Surgeons in December removed not just the skin, but the bony structures underneath, the nerves, facial muscles, lower eyelids, the palate from a local donor and in a 22 hour surgery attached the donor face to Connie. On Tuesday she was helped to a podium at the Cleveland Clinic to show the world that the operation was a success."My name is connie, and while i know you want to focus on me, i think its appropriate that you focus on the donors family that made it possible that i could have this Christmas present i guess you could say" Doctors say the facial nerves that they reattached will slowly regenerate, giving her the ability to show emotion. Connie is able to smell and taste again, she can drink coffee from a cup, and breathe from her new nose. Specialists say her pain, which was constant before is nearly gone. "Connie's progression over the last few months is proof to all of us that even though face transplant was the surgical procedure of the last resort, it does work" Said Dr. Frank Papay of the Cleveland Clinic, a plastic surgeon who was part of the team. Doctors tell FOX 8 News Connie's new face will ultimately take on more of her own features than those of her donor. Medical Ethicists and Psychiatrists are also part of the team, that now expects to have to deal more with the question of who is and who is not a candidate.Dr. Maria Siemionow, a microsurgeon who was one of the lead surgeons in the case, says after having as many as 40 or 50 cosmetic surgeries to repair severe facial trauma or burns the cost could approach one million dollars. She estimates the cost for this procedure at between 250 and 300 thousand dollars. Connie used her time in front of cameras to also urge others not to judge people who are disfigured."I just want to say that, when somebody has a disfigurement, or don't look as pretty as you do, don't judge them, because you never know what happened to them" She acknowledged that she had been shot but would not go into details about the crime for which her husband was sentenced to 7 years in prison in 2005. "You never know what might happen to you and you might get into a car wreck and think you are beautiful one day ....and don't look the same as you did, you never know, one day it might be taken away" After four years being afraid to go out in public, Connie now simply wants to go home to her two children in Hopedale Ohio near Stubenville, and blend in. She will have to take medications to prevent her body from rejecting the transplant but so far so good. Doctors say there was only one episode where they were able to see clinical signs of rejection on day 47, several months ago, but that was addressed and since then she has been fine. The more time that passes since the surgery the less concerned they will become about her body rejecting her new face. Dr. Chad Gordon, a plastic surgeon who is part of the team says before the surgery Connie wrote down as her three top goals that she wanted to once again taste a steak, smell an apple pie, and be able to go out in public again without having children run away from her. "Now she can do all three" Gordon said.