Woman who needed facial reconstruction after bear attack says she was forced to 'prostitute herself on TV' to survive

Allena Hansen, 68, has spent over $250,000 in medical bills

Allena Hansen (pictured then and now) says the aftermath of her bear attack in 2008 was worse than the actual attack (Allena Hansen)

Allena Hansen never truly recovered after a black bear mauled her on her property 12 years ago. But it is not the pain of her injuries that's left her distraught; instead, it's the emotional toll she experienced when begging for her private health insurance to cover her treatments.

The 68-year-old woman was on her secluded ranch in the southern part of the Sequoia Mountains of California in 2008 when the black bear attacked. And the moment still brings tears to her eyes from the aftermath of dealing with the healthcare industry.

"It's horrible. It's still horrible," Ms Hansen told The Independent. "I'm crying right now. I'm so mad, I'm literally crying thinking about it and it was 12 years ago. Can you imagine?"

"What happened to me up on that mountain was nothing compared to what happened to me once I made it back home," she added. "I don't even answer my telephone because I had it conditioned that I was going to have to talk to idiots on the phone all day and try to get something done that wasn't going to get done."

She was face-to-face with the black bear on her 70-acre property when it attacked and brought her to the ground.

"When the bear attacked me it just grabbed me by the ears and bit into my face and took me down," Ms Hansen said. "So basically my face was ripped off."

Given her secluded property, it was on Ms Hansen to get down the mountain on her own if she wanted a chance at living, so she drove herself to the nearest fire station.

"At the time I didn't have many options," she added. "It was either lie there and bleed out or get the hell out of there, so I left."

Ms Hansen stayed in the hospital for only one day while recovering from her most severe injuries. But she was left with a face held together by stitches and 14 missing teeth.

Her private health insurance at the time, Blue Cross, refused to cover anything they deemed wasn't "necessary" for Ms Hansen's survival, which forced the woman's hand to pay for her treatments in a different way.

"I had to go on national television and prostitute myself ... be the freak of the week, you know," she said. "Fortunately, there were some very kind doctors who donated their services."

One of the donated services Ms Hansen received came from Dr Bill Dorfman of The Doctors.

He helped re-create a bridge across her upper jaw so the 14 teeth lost could be replaced. For the bridge alone, Ms Hansen estimates it would've cost her upwards of $30,000 to $40,000 if Dr Dorfman had not volunteered his services.

"He's a very kind dentist," she said.

"When the bear got me it destroyed the orbit of the left eye of my face," she added. "So I have a lot of 3D parts printed inside of me. I have 3D printed teeth, I have 3D printed eye sockets, part of my nose ... so all of that was donated."

A majority of her health issues from the attack involved her need for facial reconstruction and ophthalmological care, and problems still persist for the woman today.

"I have visual impairment, my sinuses were all destroyed, and my eyes don't manufacture tears," she said. Even when her eyes manufacture tears, they are unable to properly drain the liquid, which makes her vision poor.

Ms Hansen, who is now on Medicare, pays an estimated $300 to $400 out of pocket per month for speciality eye drops and other ophthalmological medication so she can see.

Another problem she battles is the paralysis on the left side of her face. This prevents her from properly moving specific muscles on that side, including those that give her the ability to smile, because of the tissue lost in the attack.

When estimating her medical bills in the last decade, Ms Hansen said she spent about $80,000 alone for her cosmetic surgery to make her "look human" again. Of that cost, insurance paid only about $10,000.

In total, Ms Hansen says she's paid about $250,000 in medical bills from all the injuries she suffered, and continues to suffer, even though she was technically covered by a private health insurance company.

"It went through all of my retirement savings, my IRAs, my assets. I am now living on a social security pension. Period," she said.

She shares her story, in part, so people can understand her battle with health insurance and how she wants the healthcare system to change to better support Americans.

"Having to go through all these explanations with (the health insurance) bureaucracy when you're trying desperately to heal and come to grips to the fact your very public face is gone is very debilitating," she said. "They want to wear you down until you give up."

"I am a statistic," she added. "I never thought it would happen to me but it did."

Ms Hansen now lends her support, and voice, to advocating for a single-payer healthcare system so no one else has to battle with health insurance companies every day like she did when recovering from her injuries.

"I would like the American people to take back their democracy and demand to get the healthcare industry out of our public health system," she said.