Second Case of Flesh Eating Disease
By: CNN News
Updated: May 18, 2012
Aimee Copeland has been on life support at a hospital in Augusta, Ga., since May 4.
The 24-year-old was infected when a homemade zip line snapped and she fell. She ended up with a gash in her leg that took 22 staples to close. Her father says doctors have removed part of her abdomen, amputated a leg and expect to remove her fingers.
He says details of the accident are vague.
"I've actually chosen not to focus on them, because to us there's a lot of negative energy around it," says Andy Copeland. "We've chosen instead to focus on the positive conditions of Aimee's recovery, and of trying to coordinate blood drives out in the community."
A North Carolina woman who survived the same infection is reaching out. Janelle Hansberger was infected 18 months ago when she cut her foot. Doctors had to amputate her leg.
She says she reached out to Copeland on Facebook and wants to help her adjust to life with a prosthetic leg.
Another case has turned up in South Carolina. Lana Kuykendall, who delivered twins at a hospital in Atlanta May 7, is being treated in Greenville. Surgeons cut out dead skin and tissues from both legs in procedures over several days.
"Right now, just very worried, very upset," said Kuykendall's friend Krissy Davidson. "Still in disbelief that here is my friend, who just had these two beautiful babies, and now she is intubated upstairs, and not able to enjoy the bonding experience, and enjoy the babies."
It's unclear how Kuykendall was infected.
The 24-year-old was infected when a homemade zip line snapped and she fell. She ended up with a gash in her leg that took 22 staples to close. Her father says doctors have removed part of her abdomen, amputated a leg and expect to remove her fingers.
He says details of the accident are vague.
"I've actually chosen not to focus on them, because to us there's a lot of negative energy around it," says Andy Copeland. "We've chosen instead to focus on the positive conditions of Aimee's recovery, and of trying to coordinate blood drives out in the community."
A North Carolina woman who survived the same infection is reaching out. Janelle Hansberger was infected 18 months ago when she cut her foot. Doctors had to amputate her leg.
She says she reached out to Copeland on Facebook and wants to help her adjust to life with a prosthetic leg.
Another case has turned up in South Carolina. Lana Kuykendall, who delivered twins at a hospital in Atlanta May 7, is being treated in Greenville. Surgeons cut out dead skin and tissues from both legs in procedures over several days.
"Right now, just very worried, very upset," said Kuykendall's friend Krissy Davidson. "Still in disbelief that here is my friend, who just had these two beautiful babies, and now she is intubated upstairs, and not able to enjoy the bonding experience, and enjoy the babies."
It's unclear how Kuykendall was infected.
