Aimee Copeland, the woman fighting for her life against an aggressive bacterial infection that caused doctors to amputate her leg, continues to improve, although she may soon lose her fingers.
"Aimee will suffer the loss of her fingers, however physicians have hope of bringing life back to the palms of her hands, which could allow her the muscle control to use helpful prosthetics," said her father Andy Copeland in a Facebook update late Saturday evening. "They are awaiting a safe time before embarking on surgery for this,” the elder Copeland said.
The bacterial infection -- Aeromonas hydrophila-- left the University of West Georgia graduate student in critical condition in an Augusta hospital. Her family has kept a bedside vigil. Her father, who had been making daily Facebook posts of her condition on Saturday marveled at her recovery. "The words I hear from the medical professionals to describe Aimee's continued recovery are "astonishing," "incredible," "confounding," "mind boggling" and "unbelievable." All those are fitting words. My favorite word is "miracle," he said in an earlier post Saturday.
Aimee contracted the bacteria – Aeromonas hydrophila – May 1 as she and friends zip-lined along the Little Tallapoosa River near Carrollton. When the homemade zip line broke, she fell six feet or so to the water and the rocks below, tearing open her calf on a stone.
Usually, Aeromonas hydrophila leads to a slight infection or a stomachache. This time, the bacteria went crazy inside her wound.
Find out more about Aimee Copeland's battle against the infection that had doctors placing her chance of survival at "slim to none" in this AJC Sunday story.
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