Thursday 10 May 2012

Georgia Student Aimee Copeland Fighting Flesh-Eating Disease After Zip Line Injury

Aimee Copeland Copeland

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The road ahead will not be easy for Aimee Copeland, the Georgia woman whose freak zip-lining accident led to a flesh-eating bacteria infection that's kept her on life support for days.

She's showing small signs of recovery, but faces even more surgeries due to the necrotizing fasciitis that has already taken her leg.

"Today Aimee is responsive and coherent," Copeland's father, Andy, wrote on his blog on Thursday. "She is responding to specific commands, and even selected the music she wanted to listen to. ... Unfortunately, her blood vessels in her hands and in her remaining foot have died, and thus they will have to be amputated too."

Copeland, 24, has been in critical condition since Friday, when doctors diagnosed her with the infection. Surgeons amputated her left leg and removed tissue from her abdomen to try to stop the bacteria from spreading.

The infection began after Copeland cut her leg last week while she was zip-lining with her friends during a kayaking trip in Carrollton, Ga.

She is still on life support at an Augusta burn unit.

Though the story is tragic, Copeland's family seemed hopeful when she showed signs of movement despite doctors' warnings on Tuesday that her chances of survival were "slim to none."

"Aimee has had a spectacular day -- she's breathing more on her own and her body is responding positively," Copeland's sister Paige wrote Wednesday on the wall of a Facebook page set up for Aimee. "She even got emotional today, I think she's scared."

A website was set up for those wishing to donate blood or money. Visit AimeeCopeland.com to leave warm wishes, view pictures or help the family.

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