Ashley Judd Shares Her Thanks to Doctors, Friends and Family Amid Recovery From Her Rainforest Fall

Ashley Judd
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The actress also posted a touching photo of her older sister, Wynonna Judd, washing her hair.

Ashley Judd is speaking out amid her recovery following a terrifying accident in the Congo region of Africa in February. The actress took to Instagram over the weekend to offer her thanks to the doctors, friends and family who all have supported her during this difficult time. 

“I want to thank Dr Phil Kregor & @hughstonclinic & @todd_rubin_md for seven hours of intensive, brilliant, inspired surgical work on my bones and nerve,” Judd wrote in a length Instagram post. “It took stamina, focus, and humility to consult with some experts around the country, whom I also deeply thank (especially SMc). Everyone at Skyline Hospital, thank you for the shelter. I loved the sweet spirit of the janitor who cleaned my room, my bright-spot-of-the-day-gal from nutrition, and always, my consummate and tender nurses.”

She added: “Now, I am in the bosom of a stream of friends and family, too numerous to mention, who have caught me in their prodigious arms from this precipitous fall. They do for me what I cannot do for myself - prepare meals, shampoo my hair, and they also offer the deep spiritual direction and consolation of trying to begin to craft an arc of meaning and purpose. They also offer and meet my need for quiet. I am lost and they are my shepherd’s staff.”

“To all who have gone before me and walk beside me with physical therapy, I had no idea. Thank you. I am only at beginning and the combination of drowning in trauma and addressing the physical body is a lot. Yet you have done it, and so will I. Haltingly, imperfectly, and under the brave eye of Truthseeker, my dear cousin’s @sagermosaics epic art work she says I inspired. (Could that possibly be true?)” she concluded. “Thank you, all here and everywhere, for the goodwill, and may we ever be mindful of the needs of others.”

As previously reported, Judd shattered her leg during an excursion she took while researching the Bonobos, a unique species of ape which is indigenous to Congo. She was eventually transported to a hospital in South Africa after a 55-hour rescue, which involved six men carrying her to safety.

Once stateside and stable, the actress and activist was able to undergo the procedure that would ultimately save her leg. In February, she took to Instagram to update fans on her recovery and revealed that she is "up and around already" after undergoing an 8-hour surgery to repair her bones.

Recently speaking with Page Six, Wynonna Judd said that she finally got a chance to see her sister for the first time since the incident and said that her recovery has been "a miracle." She also revealed that helped wash her younger sister’s hair, as she's largely laying on her back to let her leg heal.

In the same Instagram post, Ashley Judd included a photo of getting her hair washed in a touching moment with her sister. 

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