Charla Nash

Charles Krupa / Associated Press

In this Friday, Feb. 20, 2015 photograph, Charla Nash smiles as her care worker washes her face at her apartment in Boston. The Department of Defense is following Nash's progress, after funding her transplant surgery in 2011

Charles Krupa / Associated Press

In this Friday, Feb. 20, 2015 photograph, Charla Nash, who is blind, rests in her bedroom between her speakerphone and boom box at her second-story apartment in Boston. Nash, who lost her face, eyes and hands after being mauled by a chimpanzee in 2009, spends much of her time listening to the radio and books on tape. The military is hoping the information they learn from Nash's face transplant rehabilitation can help young, seriously disfigured soldiers returning from war.

Charles Krupa / Associated Press

In this Tuesday March 3, 2015 photograph, Dr. Stefan Tullius, the Chief of Transplant Surgery at the Brigham and Women's Hospital, examines Charla Nash during an appointment at the hospital in Boston. The Department of Defense is following Nash's progress, after funding her transplant surgery in 2011.

Charles Krupa / Associated Press

In this Friday, Feb. 20, 2015 photograph, Charla Nash climbs the stairs at her second-story apartment in Boston. Nash, who is blind with only one digit remaining on her right arm, lost her face, eyes and hands after being mauled by a chimpanzee in 2009. The military is hoping the information they learn from Nash's rehabilitation can help young, seriously disfigured soldiers returning from war.

Charles Krupa / Associated Press

In this Friday, Feb. 20, 2015 photograph, a framed photograph of Charla Nash, taken before she was attacked by a chimpanzee, sits on a bookshelf at her second-story apartment in Boston. The Department of Defense is following Nash's progress, after funding her full-face transplant surgery in 2011. Nash lost her face, eyes and hands after being mauled by her boss's pet in 2009. The military is hoping the information they learn from Nash's rehabilitation can help young, seriously disfigured soldiers returning from war.

Patrick Raycraft / The Hartford Courant

With her brother Steve Nash (at left), Charla Nash enters the LOB for her hearing this morning in Hartford. Nash is attending the hearing of claims commissioner over her request to the sue the state for damages in the attack that left her blinded, without a face, and mutilated.

MARK MIRKO | mmirko@courant.com / Hartford Courant

Charla Nash of Stamford, CT, was so severely mauled by a Sandra Herrold's 200-pound chimpanzee Travis, that she lost her hands and face. Nash received a face transplant in 2010 and is now filing a claim that would allow her to sue the state of Connecticut for allowing a dangerous animal to reside in Herrold's home. Nash has not been home since the attack and resides in a Boston-area rehab center.

Patrick Raycraft / The Hartford Courant

Charla Nash is escorted from the hearing with the claims commissioner by her brother Steve Nash.

Charles Krupa / Associated Press

In this Tuesday March 3, 2015 photograph, Dr. Bohdan Pomahac, the Director of Plastic Surgery and Transplantation at the Brigham and Women's Hospital, talks with Charla Nash during an appointment at the hospital in Boston. The Department of Defense is following Nash's progress, after funding her transplant surgery performed by Dr. Pomahac in 2011. Nash, who is blind, lost her face, eyes and hands after being mauled by a chimpanzee in 2009. The military is hoping the information they learn from Nash's rehabilitation can help young, seriously disfigured soldiers returning from war.

Charles Krupa / Associated Press

In this Tuesday March 3, 2015 photograph, Charla Nash grabs the arm of shuttle driver Roland Copeland as they walk from her front steps past five-foot high snowbanks toward a van outside her apartment in Boston. The Department of Defense is following Nash's progress, after funding her transplant surgery in 2011. Nash, who is blind, lost her face, eyes and hands after being mauled by a chimpanzee in 2009.

Charles Krupa / Associated Press

In this Friday, Feb. 20, 2015 photograph, Charla Nash chats with a neighbor on the speakerphone in her bedroom at her second-story apartment in Boston. The Department of Defense is following Nash's progress, after funding her full-face transplant surgery in 2011.

Charles Krupa / Associated Press

In this Friday, Feb. 20, 2015 photograph, Charla Nash sits in her favorite chair at her second-story apartment in Boston. The Department of Defense is following Nash's progress, after funding her full-face transplant surgery in 2011.