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US face transplant woman meets donor's family
Source: Agencies |
December 22, 2010, Wednesday
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AMERICA'S first face transplant patient has said the donor saved her from a life of eating and breathing through a tube, but until now she knew only that she was a woman who died in 2008.
Two years after Anna Kasper's face was merged with the remnants of Connie Culp's, Kasper's family decided to reveal she was the donor, so that others could know the generous woman they loved.
"She'd give her time. She'd give her money. She gave a lot of things she didn't have to other people," Kasper's husband, Ron, told The Plain Dealer newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio.
"When they asked about the donation, we knew it was what she would want to do."
The Kaspers and Culp met for the first time at the weekend. Culp, 47, has been thanking her donor since the surgery, but had never been able to name her. She told the newspaper that the get-together went well. "They're just really nice people," Culp said. "It's awesome, how much we have in common."
Kasper's 23-year-old daughter, Becky, said she could see part of her mother in Culp. "I can definitely see the resemblance in the nose," she said. "I know she's smiling down on this, that she's very happy."
Culp's husband shot her in the face in 2004. The blast destroyed her nose and shattered her cheeks. Her features were so gnarled children ran from her and called her a monster.
After Kasper died in 2008, a donor specialist approached her family about donating her face. Her family had already agreed to give her heart, kidney, liver and eyes.
"My mom would say, 'Hell if I can't use it and somebody else can, they can have it'," Becky recalled.
Kasper lived in Lakewood, Ohio, with her family. She cared for nursing home patients, delivered pizza and cleaned offices.
Two years after Anna Kasper's face was merged with the remnants of Connie Culp's, Kasper's family decided to reveal she was the donor, so that others could know the generous woman they loved.
"She'd give her time. She'd give her money. She gave a lot of things she didn't have to other people," Kasper's husband, Ron, told The Plain Dealer newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio.
"When they asked about the donation, we knew it was what she would want to do."
The Kaspers and Culp met for the first time at the weekend. Culp, 47, has been thanking her donor since the surgery, but had never been able to name her. She told the newspaper that the get-together went well. "They're just really nice people," Culp said. "It's awesome, how much we have in common."
Kasper's 23-year-old daughter, Becky, said she could see part of her mother in Culp. "I can definitely see the resemblance in the nose," she said. "I know she's smiling down on this, that she's very happy."
Culp's husband shot her in the face in 2004. The blast destroyed her nose and shattered her cheeks. Her features were so gnarled children ran from her and called her a monster.
After Kasper died in 2008, a donor specialist approached her family about donating her face. Her family had already agreed to give her heart, kidney, liver and eyes.
"My mom would say, 'Hell if I can't use it and somebody else can, they can have it'," Becky recalled.
Kasper lived in Lakewood, Ohio, with her family. She cared for nursing home patients, delivered pizza and cleaned offices.
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