![Aimee Copeland with her family [ from left - Aimee, mother Donna, father Andy and sister Paige ] in Europe? before she contracted necrotizing fasciitis (Credit: Copeland Family Photo)](http://www.denisonforum.org/images/stories/columns/commentary/aimee-copeland-with-her-family-in-europe.jpg)
I hope you opened today’s essay after eating breakfast. “Necrotizing fasciitis” is a disease few of us would have recognized before Georgia college student Aimee Copeland began making headlines. On May 1, she was kayaking with friends when a homemade zip line snapped, cutting her left calf. Three days later, she was diagnosed with the rare flesh-eating bacteria. Her leg and hands have been amputated, but she is breathing on her own today and doing better.
Meanwhile, a Georgia landscaper is battling the same disease in the same hospital after cutting his leg while trimming weeds. Six surgeries later, he is recovering. A third victim developed necrotizing fasciitis after giving birth to twins and is in critical condition. Physicians don’t know why or how she contracted the disease.
