‘Emergency ... please come now.’ Ashley Judd shares more about recovery from accident in Congo
When she first arrived at a hospital in South Africa after a serious fall in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ashley Judd said she was “in terrible shape and my leg had no pulse.”
Now back in the U.S., Judd shared more information about her recovery on Instagram and gave a shout out to some of the people who have helped her though the ordeal.
Judd, 52, said that after the accident, she sent her father, Michael Ciminella, “the text no parent ever wants: ‘emergency, can’t answer questions, please come now.’”
He was able to travel to South Africa to be with her, and since then, she said, “he has been my rock, companion, resource, helped me listen to so many doctors, critical support system, and kind, loving presence as I have wept and wept.”
She said she’s “up and around already,” though she apparently still has much recovering to do.
“I’m very thankful to all of the experts, including that expert pictured, my Pop, who is rubbing my foot to remind my foot while it still cannot move that it is connected to my body,” she wrote.
Judd said that when she first arrived at Sunninghill Hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa, she “desperately needed a blood transfusion.”
She said the nurses “cared for the trauma in my body as well as my soul with equal proficiency.”
The actress and University of Kentucky alum also had high praise for Dr. Eugene Greeff, the doctor who “was super at stabilizing my leg with the external fixator until the massive soft tissue damage and swelling went down so that I could have the Big Operation.
“What he did was significant and I am forever in his debt,” she wrote.
Judd said she and her dad were transported back to the U.S. on an air ambulance during a 22-hour journey.
“In an American hospital, I had to continue to wait for the tissue damage and swelling to reduce,” Judd wrote. “Eventually I was qualified to have the 8-hour surgery to repair the bones, decompress the hemorrhaging nerve and pick the shards of bones out of the nerve. I am now recovering from surgery.”
She shared a short video of herself walking with a walker alongside a hospital employee.
“Let us always remember those without insurance,” Judd wrote. “Let us remember those who do not have choices. Let us remember those who are lonely and afraid.”
This story was originally published February 23, 2021 at 8:47 PM.
