Connie Culp, first U.S. recipient of partial face transplant, dead at 57
Connie Culp, the Ohio woman who became the first recipient of a partial face transplant after surviving a botched murder-suicide attempt, died Thursday at the age of 57.
Culp’s cause of death has yet to be revealed, but her passing was confirmed by the Cleveland Clinic’s Dermatology and Plastic Surgery Institute, where she underwent her surgical procedure.
“Connie was an incredibly brave, vibrant woman and an inspiration to many. Her strength was evident in the fact that she had been the longest-living face-transplant patient to date,” said the hospital’s department chair Dr. Frank Papay, who was part of Culp’s surgical team and had led her care since 2008. “She was a great pioneer and her decision to undergo a sometimes-daunting procedure is an enduring gift for all of humanity.”
We are saddened by the loss of Connie Culp, the first face transplant recipient in the U.S.
She was an inspiration to all of us at Cleveland Clinic. pic.twitter.com/gvuJCzf7Jd— ClevelandClinicNews (@CleClinicNews) July 31, 2020
Culp was permanently disfigured in 2004 when her common-law husband, Tom Culp, pulled a shotgun on her in their Hopedale, Ohio, apartment above a restaurant-bar they owned, reported Atlanta TV station WSB.
He shot her in the face from eight feet away. Although she survived, all that remained were her forehead, chin, lower lip and upper eyelids.
In 2008, a surgical team integrated arteries, veins, nerves, muscles and bony structures encompassing about 77 square inches of transplanted tissue in a grueling 22-hour procedure, reported Cleveland TV station WEWS.
The heartless shooter than turned the gun on himself, but survived with much less severe injuries. He was later convicted of aggravated attempted murder and sentenced to seven years behind bars.
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After her arduous recovery, Culp became an ardent domestic-violence speaker.
“I’ve met probably 10 women that actually had a gun pointed at them,” Culp told The Plain Dealer in a 2019 interview. “The only difference is the gun wasn’t loaded. I say, ‘The next time it might be.’ I never thought that he would do that to me. And look where i am. I’m just lucky that somebody was able to fix me.”
