Last month, we reported that the Hollywood star Ashley Judd had shattered her leg and suffered nerve damage in a terrifying ape-tracking accident in the Congo in Africa. Now, her country music star sister Wynonna Judd is speaking out to talk about how emotional it was to see her sister for the first time after she got back to the states.
Wynonna, 56, told Page Six that she just saw Ashley for the first time “the other day” and is “still processing” what happened to her. She admitted that she wept when she saw her 52 year-old sister, describing her recovery as a “miracle.”
As for Ashley, all she wants is someone to wash her hair, and Wynonna is trying to help her out like any big sister would.
“I was looking up how to wash hair for someone who’s lying down in bed because she texted me, ‘Can you wash my hair?’” Wynonna said.
“Therein lies the job of a big sister right there,” she added with a laugh. “She said, ‘I have a request. Can you wash my hair?’ I said, ‘Sure,’ so I’m looking up ways to wash someone’s hair lying down.”
Ashley was trying to track a rare ape in Africa when she tripped over a tree stump and shattered her leg in four places. She then underwent 55 hours of agony as those with her tried to get her from a remote area of the Congo to somewhere where she could get medical treatment.
Ashley was carried out of the forest for hours and placed on a motorcycle for a ride that lasted hours as well. She was then flown to South Africa, where she was given the medical treatment she needed before being flown back to the states, where she underwent an eight hour surgery that saved her leg.
“In an American hospital, I had to continue to wait for the tissue damage and swelling to reduce. 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 said last month.
“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,” Ashley added. “I am up and around already. Thank you for your care and kind words. Let us always remember those without insurance. Let us remember those who do have choices. Let us remember those who are lonely and afraid.”
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