Woman with flesh-eating disease gets off ventilator

Associated Press

ATLANTA

A young Georgia woman fighting a flesh-eating disease is now able to breathe on her own, a milestone that sent the family’s spirits soaring, her father said Monday.

Aimee Copeland is now focused on taking each breath without the aid of a ventilator, which will help her lungs recover, her father, Andy Copeland, told The Associated Press. He wrote on his Facebook page a day earlier that “Aimee is being Aimee,” cracking jokes, speaking candidly and displaying “her usual early-morning grumpiness.”

“The deep breathing has been wonderful for her,” he said Monday.

“Right now, we’re just taking each moment and treasuring it for what it’s worth. I believe God is going to take care of the future.”

Her hands were amputated Thursday because they’d turned purple and were threatening her recovery.

She still feels like she has fingers, he said, a phantom sensation that sometimes occurs after the loss of limbs. Doctors already had amputated most of her left leg.

But she’s maintained her positive outlook since the amputations, inspiring loved ones at her hospital bedside in Augusta and strangers around the globe, her father said.

The 24-year-old developed a rare condition called necrotizing fasciitis after cutting her leg May 1 in a fall from a homemade zip line over the Little Tallapoosa River in west Georgia.