ATLANTA — Faced with the prospect of losing both hands and her one remaining foot, a young Georgia woman battling to survive a case of flesh-eating bacteria that has already claimed one leg mouthed the words, “Let’s do this.”
Aimee Copeland, 24, “shed no tears, she never batted an eyelash,” her father, Andy Copeland, wrote on Facebook on Friday about the conversation he and his wife had with their daughter the day before.
“I was crying because I am a proud father of an incredibly courageous young lady,” Copeland wrote.
It was not clear Friday whether the surgeries had already been performed. A hospital spokeswoman referred questions to the father’s online post.
The story of Copeland’s battle to survive has inspired an outpouring of support from around the world. The University of West Georgia student developed a rare condition called necrotizing fasciitis after suffering a deep cut in her leg in a May 1 fall from a homemade zip line over the Little Tallapoosa River.
She has been hospitalized in critical condition at an Augusta hospital, battling kidney failure and other organ damage. She had been on a breathing tube until recently, when doctors performed a tracheotomy, her father said.
Until Thursday, Aimee Copeland did not know the full extent of her condition, only that her hands were badly infected.
Andy Copeland said he told his daughter about what had happened since the accident, how her one leg had been amputated.
“We told her that the world loved and admired her,” her father said. “We explained that she had become a symbol of hope, love and faith. Aimee’s eyes widened, and her jaw dropped. She was amazed.”
