Connie Culp was shot in the face by her husband five years ago. Five months ago, doctors grafted the face of a dead woman on to her shattered face, and the operation worked. Ms. Culp is now the first face transplant recipient in America.
Culp said she wanted to help foster acceptance of those who have suffered burns and other disfiguring injuries.
"When somebody has a disfigurement and don't look as pretty as you do, don't judge them, because you never know what happened to them," she said. "Don't judge people who don't look the same as you do. Because you never know. One day it might be all taken away."
It's a role she has already practiced, said Dr. Kathy Coffman, the clinic psychiatrist.
Once while shopping, "she heard a little kid say, 'You said there were no real monsters, Mommy, and there's one right there,' " Coffman said. Culp stopped and said, "I'm not a monster. I'm a person who was shot," and pulled out her driver's license to show the child what she used to look like, the psychiatrist said.
Here is what Culp looked like before she was shot. As our former guestblogger Maggie Koerth-Baker pointed out on Twitter just now — the thing I keep coming back to as I read these stories about Ms. Culp is that the man who shot her in the face got only seven years in jail for this crime. Huh? The man who did this to his wife could be out on the street again in as little as two years?
Face-transplant patient reveals herself (Associated Press; image courtesy Associated Press)
