Dr. Maria Siemionow had a great quote in Thursday's show about people like Connie Culp who seek face transplants:  "Those people are not just coming with such a commitment because they want to be beautiful.  They want to be normal.  They just want to come back to society as anybody else."

And thanks to her own commitment, an exceptional team of doctors, and a miracle in medicine, Ms. Culp can come back to society.  She can talk again.  She can smile and taste food.  And her facial features are expected to improve further as she uses her new muscles and undergoes future procedures.

It's undeniably an amazing story.  While there's no way to understand the horror she went through to get here, seeing her progress makes all of us appreciate how far she's come - and how fortunate we are.  I'd be interested to hear what you thought when you saw this story on CNN Student News.

Carl Azuz, Anchor