I saw Face/Off at the nail salon a few weeks ago, and I’ll admit that the concept sounded pretty cool. John Travolta, a government agent of some sort (ok, I wasn’t paying close attention to it) went through a face transplant in order to catch a villainous Nichols Cage. Through the wonder of movie medical science, he looked and sounded just like Nic Cage. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I wished such a procedure existed. It’s not that I hate how I look, but I wouldn’t be devastated if my acne-scarred face with a slightly bulbous nose suddenly morphed into the twin of Gisele Bundchen or Heidi Klum (of course, I’d want the neck down to match, but that’s another blog for another day).
A few months ago, the Cleveland Clinic announced that they had successfully performed a full face transplant. At the time, the family of the patient didn’t disclose details, only saying that the woman had a life altering injury.
Today the patient unveiled her new face to the word. The after picture isn’t pretty – yeah, I’ll say it. But the before was nothing short of horrific. Apparently her husband shot her in the face, then shot himself. Apparently he survived because he served, what is in my opinion, a paltry 7 year jail sentence. She had a much longer sentance.
A story was recounted at the press conference of her encountering a little girl who chided her mother saying “Mommy, you said there were no real monsters and there’s one right there”. Bravely she said to the little girl that she had been shot in the face and that she wasn’t a monster. I hate to think how I would have reacted.
I watched the video of the press conference, and I’m ashamed of my Heidi Klum face transplant fantasy. I’ve never been mistaken for a monster and I’ve always been able to taste, smell and swallow. Even on my worst body image day, I’ve been able to leave the house.
May God bless you Connie Culp – and may God bless the doctors at the Cleveland Clinic and the work that they do.
1 comment:
well said
Post a Comment