Ashley Judd walking 5 months after Congo accident
Ashley Judd says she has been able to walk "uphill on uneven surfaces for an hour confidently." Credit: Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival / Astrid Stawiarz
Actor and animal activist Ashley Judd is walking again, not yet six months since her devastating leg injury in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
"Dear Friends, It is with reverence and quiet awe I offer this update," the "Divergent" film-series star, 53, wrote on Instagram Sunday. "Today, five months and three weeks after the accident in the Congolese rainforest, I walked again, and in what fashion! I hiked in the #SwissNationalPark" in the Swiss Alps. "Stepping in, I felt in my ease, my natural garment of self, at home in my spirit."
A half-dozen photos and videos showed her walking with and without crutches, doing yoga and moving her severely nerve-damaged right foot.
"My leg and foot, worked beautifully," Judd reported, saying she walked uphill "on uneven surfaces for an hour confidently and came down carefully and easily. I rested in a meadow on God's fecund earth for hours. The next day, I walked again on a high Alp in #Ticino," a southern Swiss canton, "working hard and feeling how much … stamina I have to rebuild."
She added, "This is the road ahead. But I am up to the daily tasks, as I am even carrying firewood into our Alpine hut!"
Judd thanked her orthopedic surgeon and medical team, including those who "made a very gutsy decision to decompress my deeply damaged peroneal nerve. The video of my foot moving is unheard of. We expected my foot — if ever — to *begin* to move in one year. In four months to the day, she blew us all away."
Acknowledging that, "My leg will never be the same," Judd said philosophically, "She is a new leg. And I love her. We are buddies. We have a come a long way and we have a fabulous life ahead."
She concluded by saying, "Many of you have been praying for me, and sending me notes. Thank you. I have felt you. I especially have been held by family and my partner. Peace be with you." Judd, who was married to three-time Indianapolis 500 champion Dario Franchitti from 2001 to 2013, generally has not spoken about any subsequent romantic partner.
A longtime supporter of the Bonobo Conservation Initiative, Judd was in the Kokolopori Bonobo Reserve in February to examine those endangered primates when she tripped over a tree in the dark. She has effusively thanked the many people who rescued her and transported her on a more than two-day grueling journey to a hospital.
Among those commenting supportively on Judd's Instagram were Oscar winners Brie Larson and Mira Sorvino, and Olympic gold medalist skier Lindsey Vonn.
