The Information of the person to contact is below. Charla Needs the public's support. Please send your letters of concern. God Bless you Christine!
My Letter To Dr. Cosgrove Advocating for Hands for Charla Nash
By Christine Faltz Grassman(my info redacted for purposes of this post)
Dr. Delos Cosgrove
Chief Executive Officer
Cleveland Clinic
9500 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, Ohio 44195
RE: Hands for CHARLA NASH
Dear Dr. Cosgrove:
I am a blind mother, attorney, and teacher of at-risk youth from New York. My fourteen-year-old daughter and ten-year-old son are also blind since birth, and my husband is legally blind. My husband and I live, work, and travel independently. My children are fully mainstreamed and well on their way to becoming fully contributing members of their communities.
I was compelled to write to you after hearing something on the Oprah Winfrey show on Wednesday, November 11, during Ms. Winfrey’s interview with Charla “Charlie” Nash. Contrary to what is known by the blind on a global scale, I was appalled and aghast to hear that because Charla Nash is blind, she does not need her hands!
While I recognize that absent a neurological miracle it is highly unlikely that a hand transplant will result in Charlie being able to access Braille, the hands are essential for most people in order to attend to their independent toileting, bathing, eating, grooming, and dressing. For the vast majority of blind people, (most of us are blessed with working hands, or prosthetics, when called for), hands provide access to independent travel via the white cane or a service animal. The speech-equipped laptop upon which I am typing right now at approximately 75 words per minute is also a widely used means of access to work, community, family, and friends for the blind as well as the sighted.
As a person with your extensive credentials, surrounded by many others who are likewise more than capable of understanding these facts, and as someone who has received a Bronze Star for your service to our country, a Humanitarian Award, and a Public Service Award, I am truly at a loss to comprehend why the Cleveland Clinic would further handicap Charlie after she has been through so much, and still has so much to endure, both medically and personally.
Cleveland Clinic has the awesome power to either give or withhold a fundamental tool for Charlie’s most efficient means of acquiring the most independence that hands, her spirit, and her ability to surmount her other serious and many challenges can afford. I am bringing these thoughts to the public’s attention to the fullest extent that I am able, and I hope that by whatever means necessary: fund-raising, donated resources, materials, and time, etc., — Cleveland Clinic will soon release a statement that Charla Nash will be receiving hands, and the therapy required to use them to the greatest extent possible.
I know I am not alone in my shock and dismay, and I hope that the professionals at the Cleveland Clinic are already gearing up to hand Charlie the tools that will be most effective in providing the best hope for the highest quality of life and degree of independence of which this remarkable, strong woman is capable.
I hope to hear of Cleveland Clinic’s decision to follow through with a hand transplant as soon as is convenient for all concerned, especially Charlie.
Very Sincerely,
Christine Faltz Grassman
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