A Georgia woman who suffered a quadruple amputation because of flesh-eating bacteria spoke for the first time Sunday since her horrific accident, saying, “Hello. Whoa. Wow. My mind is blown.”
Aimee Copland, 24, spoke to her mother, Donna, and her sister, Paige, after a ventilator was removed from her throat. Aimee’s father, Andy, was at church at the time and spoke with his daughter later on.
Copeland said his daughter’s voice was raspy, as is usual for anyone who speaks after being on a ventilator but that she was in good spirits, joking and asking what her family had been up to.
On May 1, Aimee suffered a cut to her calf when she fell into a river while on a zipline ride and developed a condition known as necrotizing fasciitis. The deadly flesh-eating bacteria entered her body through the cut, and doctors initially feared for her life. Since then, physicians have had to amputate Aimee’s hands, her left leg and her right foot.
But she has shown amazing resiliency and courage, asking for ice cream as well as a book to read – because, she said, she was “bored” in the hospital.
Despite Aimee’s positive attitude, Andy Copeland knows that his daughter won't have it easy as she continues her recovery. “We all know it is going to be a long and challenging road,” he wrote on his blog, “but we will handle it together.”
