PORTLAND, Ore., Sept. 30 (UPI) -- Doctors in Oregon say they hope to give a woman a new face to replace the one she lost to a shotgun blast when she was 16.
Chrissy Steltz was to begin the process Wednesday with six hours of surgery to open a nasal passage, The Portland Oregonian reported. Her doctors plan to create a realistic silicone mask
Steltz was shot at point-blank range in 1999 by a guest at a drunken party in the apartment she shared with her then-boyfriend. Her medical records at Legacy Emanuel Hospital & Medical Center list the reason for admission as "most of face gone."
The shooting left her blind and noseless. She wears a black sleep mask to cover the scars and empty eye sockets.
Steltz has gone on with her life. She has a 2-month-old son with her partner, Geoffrey Dilger, who is also blind, and also cares for a younger sister she has never seen because the girl was born four months after the shooting.
She misses being able to do things on the spur of the moment.
"You can't just randomly take a beach drive," she told the newspaper. "Nothing is random. I had a driver's license for four months and 11 days, and I loved driving."
