Aimee Copeland, the 24-year-old Georgia woman fighting an aggressive flesh-eating bacteria, was told by her father today that doctors would amputate her hands and her right foot.
She had already lost her left leg to the rare disease.
Upon hearing the news, she raised her hands, looked right at her family and said, “Let’s do this.”
Andy Copeland, Aimee’s father, posted the news on the Facebook page he created for his daughter, “Believe and pray for a miracle to happen for Aimee Copeland.”
Aimee’s dad said he knew bad news was coming as soon as he sat down with her doctor yesterday.
“‘We need to talk about Aimee’s hands and foot,’ he said as his eyes bored into mine,” Copeland wrote. “He didn’t have to say anything. We had noticed a remarkable change over the past several days in Aimee’s hands. They went from a splotchy purple color to a red tone and then to a pinkish flesh tone. Yesterday I had noticed them turning back to an angry red.”
Copeland says his daughter’s hands have now turned a “splotchy purplish” color, and there is the risk of further infection after a sore developed in the palm of her right hand.
Aimee has also lost a large amount of fascia – the layer of thick tissue under the skin – on her left side, making it more difficult for her to breathe.
The doctors said, though, that Aimee’s respiratory condition was improving after she underwent a tracheotomy on Wednesday. The improvement has given physicians a small window of opportunity to do the amputations, Copeland said.
Aimee contracted necrotizing fasciitis after falling from a zipline near a creek in Carolltown, Georgia. The bacteria entered her body through the gash she suffered during the fall, and it quickly spread throughout her body, destroying skin and muscle along the way.
Copeland said his daughter took the news about her hands and foot much better than he ever could have hoped. He said he was proud to be her father.
“In all my 53 years of existence, I have never seen such a strong display of courage,” Copeland wrote. “Aimee shed no tears, she never batted an eyelash.”
You can read Andy Copeland’s blog here and “Like” Aimee’s Facebook page here.
Related articles
- Second and Third Cases of Flesh Eating Bacteria Reported (VIDEO) (blippitt.com)
- Aimee Copeland Will Lose Fingers to Flesh Eating Bacteria after Zip Line Accident (VIDEO) (blippitt.com)
- Zip Line Accident Causes Georgia Woman to Lose Leg to Flesh-Eating Bacteria (VIDEO) (blippitt.com)
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