Connie Culp became the first-ever face transplant patient in the US: Inside her remarkable story

The life of Connie Culp was marked with a big tragedy and a number of struggles which she managed to overcome one step at a time.

When she was 16, she run away from home with her high-school sweetheart who would later try to claim her life. Although she was in love with her husband, Tom, she became aware that he mistreated her, the same as her father. For a long time, she believed it was normal, but she them decided to stand for herself.

“He would push me and people would see it, and I would get up and I’d say, ‘I’m a good person, and I don’t deserve that,’” she told Oprah. “He wasn’t used to me talking back.”

On September 21, 2004, this woman’s life changed forever when her husband accused her of flirting with another man and shot her in the face. He then pulled the trigger on himself but survived.

Youtube/ABC

Connie survived as well, and she somehow managed to call her sister, who then called Connie’s daughter Alicia.

The blast shattered Connie’s nose, cheeks, the roof of her mouth, and her eye. Her survival was dubbed a miracle.

“I lost my sense of smell. I lost my eye, my nose. My jaw they had to wire shut. I didn’t lose any teeth during the [incident], but the top of my mouth deteriorated, so I lost my whole top mouth,” Connie explained. “I could feel my face just sliding down.” 

Although she experienced excruciating pain, she said that she forgave Tom, whom she divorced and who was sentenced to nine years in prison.

“I always will [love him.] I mean, I have two kids to him,” Culp said. “But you know what? I cannot be with him anymore,” she told ABC. “I won’t let anybody talk about that, I spent six years thinking about it. And you know what? Now, it’s a new beginning. I have a new face. I’m a new me.”

Youtube/ABC

Connie was forced to undergo over 30 surgeries and she was starred at and even called names when she would go out in public.

One time, while she was shopping at a store, a young boy called her a monster.

“‘You said there were no real monsters, Mommy, and there’s one right there,’” Connie recalled the boy saying as he pointed towards her.

“‘I’m not a monster,’” Connie responded as she pulled out her driver’s licence and showed him how she looked before. “I’m a person who was shot.”

Youtube/ABC

On December 9, 2008, Connie’s life would change once again. As doctors considered a face transplant surgery, something that hadn’t been done in the U.S up until that point, finding a donor was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Even if a donor was found, no one could say with certainty that such a surgery could be a success.

Then, the Cleveland Clinic had found a donor, a woman named Anna Kasper who collapsed in the cold and passed away after getting out at her back porch to lit a cigarette.

Anna’s family described her as the most caring and most loving woman there was, and they knew she would want to donate her face to someone in need so they agreed to donate it to Connie. Anna happened to be a matching donor, which was yet another miracle.

Youtube/ABC – Anna Kasper

The surgery lasted for 23 long hours.

“This is amazing both technically, surgically, but also philosophically. The face of someone else is being adopted and accepted by the face of the recipient,” Dr. Maria Siemionow, the Cleveland Clinic surgeon who led the team performing the transplant surgery, said. “You can see a live person who is happy her life is back.”

The recovery was a long and tiring one and it included a lot of anti-rejection medications.

Youtube/CBSPittsburgh

Connie could start her life over. She learned how to speak again, and she even cracked jokes. She learned how to eat solid food, and even how to walk again because she was forced to spend a lot of time in the hospital bed. “You know, it was scary when I walked out,” Connie she recalled. “All I could see were my doctors up front because of their white coats. I didn’t even see the reporters. That’s probably the one day I was glad to be blind.

“The importance of a face transplant was getting my mouth back in order and letting me smile again,” she told the Post-Gazette.

“And now, for instance, I can drink out of a cup and eat solid food. Before, I had to use a straw all the time and eat soft foods.”

Youtube/ClevelandClinic

Connie regained her self confidence and even started dating again. She felt happy and fulfilled.

Unfortunately, in 2020, this brave woman passed away due to an infection not related to her surgery.

“Connie was an incredibly brave, vibrant woman and an inspiration to many,” Dr. Frank Papay, chair of Cleveland Clinic’s Dermatology and Plastic Surgery Institute, who was part of Connie’s surgical team, told CNN.

“Her strength was evident in the fact that she had been the longest-living face transplant patient to date,” Papay said in a statement. “She was a great pioneer, and her decision to undergo a sometimes daunting procedure is an enduring gift for all of humanity.”

Connie was a true inspiration. May she rest in peace.

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Family with mysterious facial condition are becoming an internet sensation – now they’re inspiring millions worldwide

Ever since we were little children, our parents taught us to never judge people based on their physical appearance. Sadly, there are still those who make assumptions about others based on their looks. 

Although being different means being special and unique, those people who don’t fit the ‘standards’ imposed by the society can easily fall victims of stares and bullying.

A family from Indonesia, the Manurung family, are unlike the rest of the people from their village.

Four out of six siblings, together with their father, suffer from a mysterious facial condition.

Their faces look exactly the same, and according to them, they changed over time.

Youtube/Truly

Unfortunately, they hadn’t visited a doctor in order to try to detect the cause of their condition until they became famous on TikTok. Even then, no one was able to detect the exact reason which lead to these people’s faces to change drastically.

Recently, sisters Sri, Mairani, Tiur, and their brother Surya appeared on camera for the YouTube channel Truly where they spoke of their condition and how it affects their lives. After considering a number of theories, the siblings settled on the idea that their condition is a result of genetics.

“I always used to think about it; Why am I so different to my sisters and brother?” Tiur, the only sibling without the condition, told Truly.

“But when I got older, what I realized was that it must be genetics from our parents. My sisters and brother inherited it from my father, and I am more like my mother.

“We think that their condition right now isn’t a problem day-to-day. If it did cause problems, like tiredness, they would go to the doctor for a check-up,” Tiur explained. “Now, their condition doesn’t affect their lives, so it’s not an issue.”

Youtube/Truly

As they haven’t been provided with a diagnosis, because doctors are unable to find out what exactly caused these siblings’ faces to change, there are a few possible explanations.

According to some, the members of this family might be suffering from a rare condition called Parry-Romberg Syndrome which according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke is a condition “where the tissue of one side of the face gradually wastes away.” This condition is incurable but “immunosuppressant drugs and other medicines may help treat some neurological symptoms. Other treatment focuses on treating other symptoms.”

Another possible condition the Manurungs might be suffering from is Treacher Collins, a genetic disorder resulting in congenital craniofacial malformation which affects the development of bones and other tissues of the face. 

A third possibility could be the so-called Barber Say Syndrome, which is usually present from birth and causes malformations in a newborn’s body.

Youtube/Truly

The siblings are well accepted by the people who live in the village, but when they go to the town, they usually get stared at.

“When we walk around our village, we don’t have any problems. No one makes fun of us, no one insults us in our village,” Surya said.

“But if we leave here and go out of town, people who never seen us before for sure, they look surprised when they do. The fact is our faces changed, but we accept it and just live with it. We are thankful for it, it’s a gift from God. That’s how we see it.”

Youtube/Truly

Tiur added: “I feel bad that they’re not like me. I have a normal life without bullying, without being mocked, without being ridiculed by others. When they feel sad because of that, I do too.”

The family decided to use their specific looks to gain the attention of people worldwide and spread a message that we should all embrace our physical appearance and learn to love ourselves they way we are.

Youtube/KeluargaManurung

They decided to start posting videos on TikTok where have over 2.9 million followers. They post videos of themselves dancing and show the world how they live. At the same time, they use the platform as a way of earning money.

“We went viral on TikTok,” mother Mardiah Manurung said. “Since then people thought we did it for pity, but that’s not true. We’ve used this as an opportunity of going viral of hoping to earn a living to raise our living standards.”

Since the documentary about this family aired on Truly some 18 months ago, Surya got married to a beautiful woman named Shasa Puspita Dew.

This family inspires many and they are the perfect proof that appearance is not everything.

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Woman waves to bear from her car – watch his unexpected response 1 second later

All those stunning, yet untamable animals from the wild that we only get to observe from the distance create at humans sort of fascination and a hidden need to approach closer and learn more about them.

One woman got to experience an incredible encounter with a bear residing in the Olympic Game Farm in Washington, where hundreds of animals live in large areas. It is unknown how the lovely creature ended up there or whether it will be released into the wild eventually, but what is known is that it leads a fulfilling life together with the rest of the rescue animals there.

YouTube

As the woman drove by the bear, she waved it, but what she didn’t expect was to receive the same gesture from the animal.

Seeing the bear waving back brought amusement and laughter at the woman and the rest of the passengers.

Take a look at the video below. It might be short, but it’s definitely the cutest thing you’ll see today.

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John Legend shares how his children embarrass him when he is in public

John Legend and wife Chrissy Teigen make one of the most charming celebrity couples. They love posting photos of themselves and their children and share stories of their everyday lives and the ‘struggles’ which come with parenthood.

The two are parents of three beautiful children. They welcomed their first child, daughter Luna, in 2016. Two years later, their son Miles was born, and before welcoming their youngest child a few months ago, they experienced heartbreak when Teigen lost her unborn child. The two spoke openly of the pain they felt.

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Recently, Legend appeared on the The Late Late Show With James Corden where he shared cute stories about his children. Among the rest, he revealed they love his music so much, especially Miles, that they make him play it while he drives them to school and when he drops them off.

“They do, especially my son. He knows all my songs and he’s like Rain Man with the lengths of the songs. He remembers how long each song is and he’s like, ‘Actually ‘Green Light’ is a little longer than this one, it’s 3:19,’” the singer revealed, and added that this is quite embarrassing. Why, you may wonder? Well, the school his kids attend is also the school where children of other celebrities, like Jay Z’s daughter, study.

“I’m pulling up, playing my music loud and it’s embarrassing,” Legend said jokingly. “No, [JAY-Z]’s not playing ‘Reasonable Doubt’ in the car with his kids — I don’t think, I don’t hear it at least!” 

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The couple revealed the story behind their youngest child’s name, Esti. Speaking of it, Teigen said, “We were on vacation. We got married in Italy and I was looking up at the hotel and I kept seeing the Este of it, and then I was like, ‘I love the name Este.’

“I was just playing around with it and then we came up with Esti.”

Later on, they learned that Legend’s great-grandmother name was Esti. “… I guess maybe it was Esther and then they turned it to Esti,” Teigen revealed.

We believe that Legend and Teigen make awesome parents to their three children, and together, they make a very beautiful family of five.

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Why Linda Blair was never the same after ‘The Exorcist’

Released in 1973, the nightmare-inducing film The Exorcist still holds the spot for the second highest-earning R-rated horror film of all time. The film, directed by William Friedkin, is adaptation of William Peter Blatty’s best-selling novel of the same name and is based on a real-life event which took place in 1949.

It follows the story of a 12-year-old girl named Regan MacNeil, played by Linda Blair, who is believed to be possessed by an evil spirit. Once the Catholic church learns of Father Damien Karras’ suspicions, he’s allowed to perform exorcism on the girl.

Wikipedia Commons

Once it hit theaters, the Oscar-winning movie became a massive hit everyone talked about. Most of the actors, who were rather unknown before the film was released, rose to stardom. The same was true for then 14-year-old Blair who turned into a star almost overnight.

Her chilling performance brought her the praise from the critics, but at the same time, the controversial role took a toll on her life.

Statue of Linda Blair from ‘The Exorcist’ on display at the 43rd Annual Saturn Awards – After Party held at The Castaway on June 28, 2017 in Burbank, California. (Photo by Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images)

The making of the film was notoriously difficult. As special effects weren’t powered by technology during the 70’s, many of the actors were demanded to film under difficult conditions, which left them vulnerable to injuries and illness. For example, the room where the scene of exorcism was filmed was kept at a temperature of 30 below the zero so the cameras were able to pick up the cloud of ice when an actor breathed and Blair wore a gown only.

Linda Blair and Ellen Burstyn in the movie the Exorcist / Wikipedia Commons

During the filming, a few tragedies took place and nine people related to the film in one way or another died.

Before the exorcism scene was shot, a bird flew into a light box and that caused a massive fire which burned the place so the filming was stopped for six weeks until the set was rebuilt.

At the time, Blair was too young to understand that many were in fact scared of the events which surrounded the making of the horror movie. “The Exorcist was a work of fiction. I didn’t realize then that it dealt with anything in reality,” she said.

In one scene, Blair was violently lashed back and forth in a harness. As a result, she suffered a spinal injury, which later developed into scoliosis. She later said: “The back injury was far more serious than I ever imagined and really affected my health negatively for a long time.”

Wikipedia Commons

Blair’s acting was so realistic that many claimed a healthy child could not possibly be able to give such strong and intimidating performance.

A number of religious hard-liners declared the film to be blasphemous and accused young Blair of the religious crises they experienced. As a result, she and her family kept receiving death-threats and were forced to live under police protection for some time.

“The amount of pressure that came down on me wasn’t anything I was prepared for. Especially all the pressure the press put on me. They thought I had all the answers about faith and Catholicism. …It was probably the most awful thing you could imagine,” the actress told Dread Central.

Because of her role of Regan MacNeil, Blair was typecast and was only offered roles where she played a vulnerable victim despite her brilliant performance in The Exorcist. In order to try and revitalize her image, she posed nude for the October 1982 issue of Oui magazine but that only made things worse. For most of her career, she starred in exploitation and B-films.

Eventually, she turned to her first passion, that for animals, and founded the Linda Blair Worldheart Foundation.

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Eight ‘dangerous’ words could bring down King Charles – Royal Family on the ‘brink of collapse,’ expert claims

Even before he took the new role, that of the head of the monarchy, King Charles announced he would be making changes within the Royal Family. In the past, sources claimed that then Prince Charles spoke of slimming down the monarchy.

“Charles has never made any secret of the fact that he wants a slimmed-down Monarchy when he becomes King. He realizes that the public don’t want to pay for a huge Monarchy and, as he said, the balcony at Buckingham Palace would probably collapse,” he was reported to have said.

The truth is that there is a never-ending debate about the existence of the monarchy, and as there are those who love it because of the security it provides, there are also those who believe that it represents an obsolete establishment which costs the taxpayers a lot of money.

According to a 2021 YouGov study, 41 percent of 18 to 24 year olds preferred the idea of an elected head of state to a monarch, as reported by Newsweek.

Shutterstock/Karl Weller

King Charles and his son William are aware of this and they are doing all in their power to modernize the monarchy, which of course, is a demanding task that requires time. King Charles, for example, is the first monarch who wasn’t home-schooled and who earned a university degree, so it’s safe to say that certain changes did start with him.

Charles has been praised for his advocacy of environmental movements and his work to help improve young people’s lives in under-privileged communities. His older son shares the same beliefs and keeps the same causes close to his heart.

Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images

Speaking of Charles and William, royal expert Katie Nicholl wrote that, according to one of her sources, the passing of Prince Philip in April 2021 “sharpened the focus on the future” for then-Prince Charles and Prince William.

“They are absolutely on the same page, in fact they are closer now than they have ever been,” a family friend told Nicholl. “They speak almost every day and they have a very loving and genuine connection.

“They believe in the monarchy, that it has a genuine purpose and that it has a future. They recognize that it has to modernize and that there will be changes in the future when the Queen’s reign comes to a close.”

She then added: “William knows that the monarchy has to modernize in order to survive. He plans to continue his grandmother’s legacy when it is his time on the throne, just in his own way.”

Chris Jackson/Getty Images

One threat to the monarchy, according to experts, is the slimmed-down monarchy which results in fewer royal engagements compared to the past years.

“The Royal family as we know it is on the brink of collapse and risks abolishing itself by stealth if the King doesn’t take steps to boost visits that have fallen radically over the last decade,” the Civitas report’s author, Frank Young, said, as quoted in the Express.

“Through death, scandal, and resignation, the Royal family is increasingly reliant on a few hard-working members, with Charles, Anne, and Edward doing almost half the work…. We now need new working royals or will have to accept a Royal Family that is more distant from the people than at any time in the past 100 years.”

Chris Jackson – WPA Pool /Getty Images

With Harry and Meghan’s departure from the Firm, the number of working royals decreased, although Harry is still a Counselor of State, who “are authorized to carry out most of the official duties of the Sovereign, for example, attending Privy Council meetings, signing routine documents and receiving the credentials of new ambassadors to the United Kingdom.” Along with Harry, two other Counselors of State are non-working royals, Andrew and Beatrice, which is an issue.

According to Daniela Elser, “Having Harry, Andrew, and Beatrice as possible regal understudies makes about as much sense as letting Cheryl Cole deputize for the Home Secretary or Take That’s Gary Barlow getting to have a go as the governor of the Bank of England.

“That they could even theoretically be tapped to open parliament, sign official documents or hold Privy Council meetings? Which is a long way of saying the king simply cannot afford for his brother and son and their ever-resilient egos and deep reservoirs of grievance to continue semi-regularly wreaking havoc.”

Aaron Chown-WPA Pool/Getty Images

Elser claims that besides the decreased royal engagements with the people of Britain, another thing that can “bring King Charles down” and possibly lead to the collapse of the monarchy are eight words, and those words are:  ‘The Duke of York’ and ‘The Duke of Sussex.’

“So long as the eight words ‘The Duke of York’ and ‘The Duke of Sussex’ appear on the royal website as Counsellors of State, His Majesty is putting his reign – and the whole palace shebang – in jeopardy,” Elser wrote.

“[Andrew and Harry] are both a seemingly never ending font of trouble for the monarch yet both remain part of the royal fabric,” she added.

We hope King Charles would be able to answer to all the challenges that arose with his new role.

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Sunken treasures in North Carolina found by three local teens

The waterways of North Carolina had been hiding a true treasure for over a thousand years until three teens accidentally stepped on a century old canoe they believed to be a log at first some two years ago.

The canoe, which belonged to the Waccamaw Siouan Indians, was settled close to where an 18th century French slave ship was recovered in 1996. The ship, which was initially called La Concorde, was captured in 1717 by notorious pirate Blackbeard who later remained it Queen Anne’s Revenge. When the wreck was brought to the surface, there were a bounty of artifacts discovered, like the anchor and loaded canons of all sizes.

The dugout canoe, which predates Queen’s Anne Revenge by hundreds of years, was retrieved from Lake Waccamaw’s swampy waters in April 2023 as it took two years for a plan to be made for it to be taken out without damaging it. If sunken artifacts are mishandled, or improperly exposed to air they can easily crumble.

Wikipedia Commons / Joey Nobles

Michael Jacobs, the Waccamaw Siouan Chief, said, “That canoe at 28 feet long would have carried many a brave,” and added: “We feel like in our heart, it’s a history that we’re still exploring and understanding because this is the first time we’ve had access.”

The canoe was discovered by teens Eli Hill, Jackson Holcomb, and Creek Hyatt in the summer of 2021. “I stepped on it and I thought it was a log,” said Hill. “I tried to pick it up and it never came up. So, we kept digging at it and it just kept going. And then the next day, we came back and we started digging some more and it just kept going.”

The teens’ families contacted The North Carolina Office of State Archaeology who sent a team to explore further. When the canoe was finally taken out this year, a number of members of the Waccamaw Siouan Tibe were there to witness the historical moment. “Our history is still unfolding. When the colonists made contact with our tribe, there’s a lot of the things that we hailed as historical and meaningful to us that we’re still putting together,” Jacobs said.

“We’re looking forward to examining it, running some tests on it, really finding out and going back to our elders and getting the history of it to where we can teach the truth to our people and know that we’ve got concrete evidence to stand on,” he added.

Flickr / Alan Sharp

This is an important discovery because it shows that the tribe was there long before the colonists came in the 16th century.

This, however, isn’t the first canoe to be found in the the alligator-infested waterways in southeastern North Carolina.

Those living in the Carolinas who are interested in the artifacts of Queen’s Anne Revenge, as well as of the canoes, can arrange a visit at the conservation lab where this new discovery will be treated before it is taken to the Waccamaw Siouan tribal grounds in Buckhead, NC.

For more on this incredible discovery go to the video below.

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She delivered pizza to rusty trailer for years, but never saw the inside – One peek made a startling discovery

If you have lost your faith in humanity, fear not, because there are always people out there whose hearts of gold and whose kind deeds help restore it.

Angela Nguyen has been working at Domino’s for a very long time and she has delivered thousands of pizzas over the years.

Among the rest, she has delivered pizza to a man named Lee Haase every Saturday; no exception. But then, out of the blue, the orders stopped. While not many would care in such situation, this raised a red flag for Angela who decided to check on her most loyal and most regular customer.

YouTube

When she arrived to his home, she noticed that a large part of the roof had been missing due to the powerful storm which had happened shortly before. Sadly, Lee couldn’t possibly afford to fix his house. Around the same time, he had also lost his son in a snowmobile accident and he was at a very bad point in his life.

Angela tried locating Lee, but he was nowhere to be seen. However, Angela’s daughter, who also delivers pizzas, learned that he was living in a rusty trailer located near his home.

Unfortunately, the trailer didn’t have heat, water, a sewage outlet, or electricity.

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Angela felt sorry for Lee, so she decided to do something about it.

“I thought we gotta do something. We can’t let a human being live like this,” she said. The first thing she did was getting an electric heater for him after which she started a crowdfunding campaign. To her surprise, it gathered the attention of many members of the community who decided to step up and donate. In a matter of two months, $32,360 were raised. “Every single one of us enjoyed doing this. This ain’t all for Lee. We all benefited,” Angela said.

Lee was then able to get a new trailer and start his life over.

GoFundMe

Angela went a step further, and instead of pizza, she delivered Lee a new home.

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