Ashley Judd says ‘nights are savage agony’ as she recovers from broken leg after Congo rainforest fell

Following Ashley Judd’s “catastrophic accident” in Congo, in which she nearly lost her leg, the actress considers herself lucky.

“I don’t understand why what happened happened,” the United Nations goodwill ambassador, 52, wrote on Instagram on Saturday, sharing a slideshow of photos. “I understand that I have been loved and helped tremendously. I understand that the nights are a savage agony.” Judd thanked the medical professionals “for seven hours of intensive, brilliant and inspired surgical work on my bones and nerves,” adding: “It took stamina, focus and humility to see experts across the country, whom I also deeply thank … I loved the gentle spirit of the janitor who cleaned my room, my stepdaughter on nutrition day, and always, my bright and loving nurses. “

Last month, Judd “stumbled upon a fallen tree” at 4.30am in the Democratic Republic of the Congo while doing conservation work for the endangered ape bonobos. The Divergent star, who is the sister of country singers Wynonna Judd, 56, and Naomi Judd, 75, broke her leg in several places and suffered nerve damage.

Ashley later told reporter Nicholas Kristof that she had lived “55 incredibly painful hours”, first stranded on the ground “screaming like a wild animal” because of the pain, for which she had to bite a stick. instead of drugs. She was also in shock and passed out while waiting for help. “Without my Congolese siblings, my internal bleeding would have probably killed me and I would have lost my leg,” she said in a February 16 Instagram post. Ashley will now need “extensive physical therapy”.

In her Saturday post, Ashley wrote: “Now I am among a stream of friends and family, too many to mention, who have hugged me prodigiously after this precipitous fall. They do for me what I cannot do for me – cooking meals, washing my hair, and they also offer the deep spiritual direction and consolation of trying to begin to create an arc of meaning and purpose. “

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She added, “They also offer and respond to my need for calm. I am lost and they are my shepherd’s staff. For anyone who has come before me and walk beside me with physical therapy, I had no no idea. Thanks. I’m only at the beginning and the combination of drowning in trauma and treating the physical body is a lot. Yet you did, and so did I. “

A few weeks ago, Ashley returned to the United States and underwent eight hour surgery to “repair the bones, decompress the bleeding nerve, and extract the bone fragments from the nerve.” She is using a walker at the moment.

This week Wynonna said Page six that Ashley had a request from her sister. “I was figuring out how to wash the hair for someone who is lying in bed because she texted me, ‘Can you wash my hair?’” She told the store. “This is where the work of a big sister lies.”

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