Aimee Copeland Speaks, Father Gives Thanks to God
Aimee Copeland, the young woman who contracted a flesh-eating virus on May 22, has finally spoken. "Hello. Whoa. My mind is blown," she told her parents. It is the first time she has spoken in almost a month, after having a quadruple amputation to remove the virus.
Copeland, 24, contracted the flesh-eating virus after cutting her leg during a fall from a zip line. She received 22 surgical staples to close the gash in her leg and picked up the virus. Only a few days later, she was found unconscious and rushed to the hospital.
"The doctor said, 'Sir, when we brought Aimee in here, we were trying to save her leg. Now we're trying to save her life,'" Aimee's father Andy told People. "We fell apart at that hospital. We just held each other and cried, and I begged God for her life."
Her life was spared, but Aimee had her leg amputated at the hip, along with her hands and a foot. When she learned that her hands were infected and that it would be best if they were amputated, Andy recalled, "she held up her hands and looked at them, then looked at us and said, 'Let's do this.'"
Two weeks later Aimee "was complaining about pain in her left leg that she didn't have," he revealed. "I said, the reason your leg hurts is because it's been removed, and she stopped."
"She kind of raised her eyebrows and mouthed, 'Wow.' She didn't cry or blink an eye," he added.
Copeland's story has provided inspiration to those who know it, and her father is quick to give God all the praise.
"God has worked miracles in Aimee's life," he told CNN. "Her life is still on the line, but I am joyous."
"I just feel confident she's going to be fine. I can't really explain it. Maybe there's something wrong with me, maybe I need a psychologist to examine me. But I don't think so," he said.
