The father of a 24-year-old American woman battling a flesh-eating disease says his daughter has spoken for the first time since she was taken to an Augusta hospital weeks ago for treatment.
Andy Copeland said in an interview on Monday that he was in church Sunday morning and missed his daughter Aimee’s words. But his other daughter, Paige, told him Aimee said, “Hello. Whoa. Wow, my mind is blown.”
Writing on his Facebook page, Andy Copeland said: “Our baby can talk.”
Aimee, a graduate student at the University of West Georgia, developed necrotizing fasciitis after cutting her leg in a May 1 fall from a homemade zip line over a west Georgia river.
It involved an equipment malfunction and a hug gash in her leg developed into a flesh-eating bacterial disease.
Doctors had to amputate her left leg, other foot and both hands to fight the fast-spreading infection.
Local residents are joining hands to raise funds and organize a blood drive for Copeland, whose disease is potentially fatal.
