Shot in the face but not in the heart

[Are_grits_groceries]

PORTLAND, Ore. – Chrissy Steltz is recovering at Legacy Emanuel Hospital Thursday after having received the first of three life-changing facial surgeries Wednesday.

Since 1999 she’s been living without her eyes, nose, and part of her face.

Another teenager shot her with a 12-gauge shotgun from 5 ½ feet away, amazingly missing her brain. It occurred at a gathering where underage drinking was taking place and involved a gun that had been stolen in a burglary.

The wounds have been significant for Steltz and have been hidden behind a mask.

“I have a 10-year-old sister, and I have always taught her that beauty is on the inside,” she said.

Eventually, she will be fitted with a prosthetic face.

Her injuries haven’t stopped her from living: she’s been teaching blind children life skills.

“Life is what you make it,” she said.

And now she and her partner, Jeffrey, who’s also blind, are raising their 2-month-old baby boy, which leaves no time for self-pity.

“Just because you have a tragic thing happen in your life, it doesn’t mean that your life is over,” she said.

Steltz is having the surgeries ten years later because the Oregon Health Plan denied her coverage of the procedure because it considered the surgeries to be cosmetic. However, her doctor, Eric Dierks, and others are donating their services.



http://www.katu.com/news/63192497.html

She is one remarkable person. And that insurance company should be ashamed. Cosmetic my ass!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. That IS an amazing story...

And how right she is...beauty is on the inside.

Nevertheless, we live in the public eye, so the insurance company did a very wrong thing in denying her coverage.

They should indeed be ashamed and major kudos to her doctors!

I wish her well with all her future surgeries!


K&R

[roguevalley]

10. her face in the second picture is round and young and pretty. Lovely

girl. She is an inspiration to us all.

[mzteris]

2. COSMETIC?

I hope they all die a hideous horrible painful prolonged death. jfhc . . . I can't believe people are that that that aaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrggggggggghhhhhhhhh :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

[noiretextatique]

3. unbelievable...i am speechless

:wow: you don't need a FACE...it's just cosmetic :wtf:
she had to wait ten years. the people responsible for denying her healthcare should have their faces shot off.

[kestrel91316]

4. +10. I'd volunteer to help with that.

[KamaAina]

6. Sounds like a "death panel" to me

:grr: :banghead:

[central scrutinizer]

5. republican response

It's a personal responsibility issue - if she hadn't been at the party where illegal activities were taking place, this wouldn't have happened - so tough shit - deal with it - don't raise my taxes to pay for this stuff.

[PetrusMonsFormicarum]

7. Saw her interview last night

on the local news. It was the most inspiring 3 minutes of TV I've ever seen: this young woman, handicapped with the loss of her face, remains calm, upbeat, pragmatic, but hopeful for the future. I rarely have this kind of connection with talking heads on the idiot box, but I really wanted to meet this incredible person. Go Chrissy!

[ThomCat]

8. Any insurance company that decided that having gaping holes in

in half of your face is just a cosmetic issue should be fired. How mercenary can they get in the quest for profits. x(

[Hissyspit]

9. It was Oregon's state run Medicaid program.

Rationing is built into the system.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_Health_Plan

Obviously, this is not necessarily the plan to be emulated.

[Hepburn]

11. She waited TEN FUCKING YEARS for a face....

...because it was deemed cosmetic!?!?!?!?!?! OMG....

Somewhere in hell there is a place ~~ a very hot and special place ~~ for the assholes who made a mockery of that health care system!

[Are_grits_groceries]

12. And some people wonder why insurance companies

aren't trusted. I'd like Baucus to justify this case.

They have "mean & cruel" panels.