Student gets her legs amputated, will lose hands due to flesh eating bacteria - Polidicks

[img]http://ww4.hdnux.com/photos/13/20/65/2952563/13/628x471.jpg[/img] FILE - This undated photo provided by the family shows Aimee Copeland, the 24-year-old Georgia graduate student fighting to survive a flesh-eating bacterial infection. Copeland has learned she will lose her hands and remaining foot, and responded by saying "Let's do this." Her father recounted the conversation in an update on his Facebook page Friday, May 18, 2012. Andy Copeland wrote about the difficult talk he had a day earlier with his daughter Aimee. The 24-year-old woman contracted the bacteria after an accident. Photo: Copeland Family / AP [quote] (CNN) -- Aimee Copeland, the 24-year-old Georgia woman who lost both hands and feet to a bacterial infection, is now breathing on her own, her father said. "Aimee is being Aimee. She's cracking jokes, speaking frankly, displaying her usual early morning grumpiness and she has been off of the ventilator for over 10 hours," Andy Copeland said in a blog post Sunday night. Though the University of West Georgia student is still receiving an oxygen "mask," Andy Copeland wrote, "the important thing is that she is getting zero breath per minute (bpm) assists. In other words, she is breathing completely on her own! How cool is that?" "Bottom line: Aimee is doing great today." The progress came after a harrowing week, in which Copeland's remaining foot and both hands were amputated. Prior to the surgery, a website posting by Copeland's friend and fellow psychology student Ken Lewis explained the reason: "Aimee's fingers and remaining foot will have to be amputated because of dead blood vessels, not because of necrotizing fasciitis," he wrote. Surgeons had already amputated a leg and cut out soft tissue from her torso. On a Facebook page dedicated to his daughter's recovery, Andy Copeland described speaking with the surgeons before the latest amputations. "The hands were endangering Aimee's progress," he writes. "As always, my decision was simple. Do whatever it takes to give us the best chance to save Aimee's life." He then broke the news to his daughter. "I took Aimee's hands and held them up to her face. She didn't draw back in horror. She knew the condition she was in," he writes. She nodded as he explained the diagnosis given by her doctors. Asked whether she had any questions, his daughter mouthed, "I'm a little confused, but I'll figure it out," he writes. The patient then listened as her father, mother Donna and sister Paige explained how she would eventually be fitted with prosthetic limbs. "She smiled and raised her hands up, carefully examining them. She then looked at us. We all understood her next three words," he writes. " 'Let's do this.' " Andy Copeland then pays tribute to the strength of his daughter, who has spent days in intensive care at Doctors Hospital in Augusta, Georgia. "A tear rolled down my face as I walked out of her room. I wasn't crying because Aimee was going to lose her hands and foot, I was crying because, in all my 53 years of existence, I have never seen such a strong display of courage. Aimee shed no tears, she never batted an eyelash. I was crying because I am a proud father of an incredibly courageous young lady." Copeland's struggle has been followed by many Americans, as her family has shared the ups and downs of her battle against the "flesh-eating" bacteria. She was with friends May 1 near the Little Tallapoosa River, about 50 miles west of Atlanta, when she grabbed onto a zip line. It snapped, and she fell. The accident left a gash in her left calf that took 22 staples to close. Three days later, still in pain, she went to an emergency room, where doctors determined she had necrotizing fasciitis caused by the flesh-devouring bacteria Aeromonas hydrophila. She was flown to Augusta for the first of what has turned into a series of surgical procedures. Among them has been a tracheotomy. Her father recounted how her loved ones saw the inevitability of the amputations in the changing color of her hands from day to day. "Some people may criticize my decision and say we should have prayed over Aimee and asked God to heal her hands. Trust me, this we have done every day," he writes. There is uncertainty about how common such infections are, since no clearinghouse compiles statistics on their incidence. But Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of the Department of Preventive Medicine at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, estimates there are fewer than 250 cases every year in the United States. The reporting of such cases is not required by law. The infection is fatal in about one in four cases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says on its website. The bacteria are "remarkably common in the water and in the environment," according to Dr. Buddy Creech, assistant professor of pediatric infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University. "When it gets into those deeper tissues, it has a remarkable ability to destroy the tissues that surround it in sort of this hunt for nutrition," he said. "When it does that, those tissues die, and you see the inflammation and the swelling and the destruction that can be very difficult to control." Meanwhile, a South Carolina woman undergoing treatment for the same condition continues to recover. After seven surgeries, Lana Kuykendall's family realizes she "still has a long road ahead." "We don't know what the next day is going to bring, so we're just trusting the Lord," her brother Brian Swaffer said Sunday. "We're taking it one day at a time." Kuykendall was healthy when she gave birth to twins on May 7 in Atlanta but went to the hospital near her home in South Carolina a few days later after noticing a rapidly expanding bruise on her leg. The twins are healthy, he said.[/quote] [url]http://edition.cnn.com/2012/05/21/health/georgia-flesh-eating-bacteria/index.html[/url] :(

[quote]The patient then listened as her father, mother Donna and sister Paige explained how she would eventually be fitted with prosthetic limbs. "She smiled and raised her hands up, carefully examining them. She then looked at us. We all understood her next three words," he writes. " 'Let's do this.' " Andy Copeland then pays tribute to the strength of his daughter, who has spent days in intensive care at Doctors Hospital in Augusta, Georgia. "A tear rolled down my face as I walked out of her room. I wasn't crying because Aimee was going to lose her hands and foot, I was crying because, in all my 53 years of existence, I have never seen such a strong display of courage. Aimee shed no tears, she never batted an eyelash. I was crying because I am a proud father of an incredibly courageous young lady."[/quote] wow.

Oh god damn it. I had hoped to wait for a few more comments, since I really don't want to come off as insensitive, but I have to ask, what the hell is up with all this flesh-eating bacteria all of a sudden? It seems to be popping up quite a lot recently.

[quote]Aimee shed no tears, she never batted an eyelash.[/quote] What? You lose your legs and hands and you don't shed a single tear over it? Biggest female bad-ass of the decade.

[QUOTE=Reds;36040566]Oh god damn it. I had hoped to wait for a few more comments, since I really don't want to come off as insensitive, but I have to ask, what the hell is up with all this flesh-eating bacteria all of a sudden? It seems to be popping up quite a lot recently.[/QUOTE] the microbe that causes it is apparently really common, its just uncommon to actually be infected with it unless you have a deep gash that opens you up to it that's from my understanding anyway

Oh god i just heard this on the news.

[QUOTE=Sir Whoopsalot;36040598]Biggest female bad-ass of the decade.[/QUOTE] why is her gender of any note here i am madly impressed with her courage as a human being

[QUOTE=ChestyMcGee;36040629]why is her gender of any note here i am madly impressed with her courage as a human being[/QUOTE] Because believe it or not there are behavioural differences between men and women!

If anybody criticizes him for not forcing his daughter to keep her hands and leaving it up to God instead as he mentioned, I sincerely hope they get this infection so they can try their hand at that. I just can't imagine what she is going through mentally. I hope she gets all the support she needs because she is going to be needing a lot of it after this is over.

Is it just me, or have there been a lot of news stories involving flesh eating bacteria lately?

I'm not sure where the 'courage' thing comes from right now. She's stuck in her hospital bed, pretty much at the mercy of the doctors and her family. She can't do anything right now is what I'm saying. Basically anyone would be doing the same thing if you were stuck in her position right now. Later, when it's time to get out of the hospital and get on with her life, THAT'S when the courage will show(or not). Will she be able to get on with it, or give up?

Yeah theres been over 3 posts of flesh eating bacteria, And the funny part is that it all started after one news post of 500,000 dollars of medical equipment stolen with flesh eating bacteria. Whats going on.

Give this woman a medal, and get her some top of the line prosthetics.

all those flesh eating bacteriers!! >:( i am mad at the bacterias

What is it with all the flesh eating bacteria lately?

[QUOTE=Negrul1;36040718]What is it with all the flesh eating bacteria lately?[/QUOTE] The shit's become immune to most antibiotics or something. It's turned into a supervirus. :v:

[quote]"She smiled and raised her hands up, carefully examining them. She then looked at us. We all understood her next three words," he writes. " 'Let's do this.' "[/quote] I know it's cliche to go on about how "brave" sick people are, but damn she's dealing with this far better than I ever could.

[QUOTE=cecilbdemodded;36040696]I'm not sure where the 'courage' thing comes from right now. She's stuck in her hospital bed, pretty much at the mercy of the doctors and her family. She can't do anything right now is what I'm saying. Basically anyone would be doing the same thing if you were stuck in her position right now. Later, when it's time to get out of the hospital and get on with her life, THAT'S when the courage will show(or not). Will she be able to get on with it, or give up?[/QUOTE] She's facing all of what you've described in her future with an awful lot of courage. People die because they refuse life saving amputations, and act irrationally due to fear and an inability to accept what is happening. People in her situation may attempt suicide if they can muster it. To say everyone would say "Let's do this" when faced with losing their hands, the part that allows us to interface with most if not all of the advancements society has given us so far is pretty damn dismissive of what she is going through.

Shes pretty attractive.

this story's been all over for the past two weeks

[QUOTE=CubeManv2;36040704]Yeah theres been over 3 posts of flesh eating bacteria, And the funny part is that it all started after one news post of 500,000 dollars of medical equipment stolen with flesh eating bacteria. Whats going on.[/QUOTE] Damn you. I was going to come in here and post a link to that article and say something along the lines of "I wonder if there's any correlation." Damn you. [b]ON-TOPIC:[/b] As said before, this woman is a bad-ass. Like, there's no other way to put it. She's a bad-ass of the highest degree.

There's a ton of bacteria that we don't know anything about.

[QUOTE=parket;36040650]Because believe it or not there are behavioural differences between men and women![/QUOTE] yeh if you shed a tear in this situation i'd deffo call you a pussy and a disgrace to the biologically ordained nature of male humans

oh chesty

Well I have to hand it to her, she's being really brave in this tragic situation. Oh, sorry for the pun, I think I got off on the wrong foot with you guys.

I'd still fuck her just saying.

[QUOTE=Negrul1;36040718]What is it with all the flesh eating bacteria lately?[/QUOTE] It's just getting more attention because money.

[QUOTE=parket;36040650]Because believe it or not there are behavioural differences between men and women![/QUOTE] lol gender roles anyways all this shit with bacteria is making me paranoid, I'd hate to live without my legs

[QUOTE=Negrul1;36040718]What is it with all the flesh eating bacteria lately?[/QUOTE] brb buying hazmat suit

[QUOTE=FreakyMe;36040780]To say everyone would say "Let's do this" when faced with losing their hands, the part that allows us to interface with most if not all of the advancements society has given us so far is pretty damn dismissive of what she is going through.[/QUOTE] You could be right, but I can't recall any flesh eating bacteria stories that involved someone saying "Fuck it, let me die." In fact I don't know if she was even the one making the decisions. From the way her father tells it, it sounds like her parents sort of made that decision for her and just told her what was going to happen. She's probably been under a lot of medication so that would be explanation for others making the decisions on her behalf.