Aimee Copeland might be able to leave the hospital in a week, her father told Good Morning America Tuesday morning, but the Snellville woman battling a rare infection that led to amputations and nearly cost her life, still has a long road to recovery.
Andy Copeland also shared a photo of his daughter taken Sunday when she went outside for the first time in 49 days.
"Aimee has a beauty in this photograph that I think goes beyond words," said Andy Copeland, who has been keeping a blog about his daughter's epic fight that has garnered national attention. "It's a beauty of survival, of resilience."
On Monday, doctors at the Augusta hospital where she has been treated since she contracted the deadly flesh-decaying infection some seven weeks ago, updated her condition to good from serious.
It was another major milestone in Copeland's recovery from the horrific incident that began May 1 when she suffered a deep cut on her calf after falling onto rocks when a zip line snapped over the Little Tallapoosa River near Carrollton.
She soon became infected with a bacteria that normally is harmless, but in Copeland it caused necrotizing fasciitis, which destroys body tissues. The bacteria's toxins did extensive damage, forcing doctors to amputate Copeland's left leg at the hip, her right foot and hands. Surgeons also removed part of her torso. They also performed grafts to replace skin that was removed.
The University of West Georgia grad student's resounding spirit showed through after doctors gave her a slim chance of survival.
"Let's do this," was Copeland's response when told she needed more surgery to halt the infection, according to her father. She battled through the amputations, preferring meditation to medicine to deal with the pain. Holistic pain management techniques have been the focus of her master's thesis, her father wrote on the blog. But she opted for medication when the pain grew to great to bear, he noted.
Copeland continues to show that resounding spirit. She plans to graduate this year, her father told Good Morning America..
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