Ashley Judd’s sister Wynonna has revealed she has seen her sister for the first time since her freak accident while ape-tracking in the Congo.
The American country singer, 56, said the actress, 52, has asked her to wash her hair as she is currently unable to do it herself after shattering her leg.
Wynonna told Page Six that she ‘wept’ when she saw her sister for the first time the other day, after she returned to America with their father – who made an emergency trip to be by her side.
Ordeal: Ashley Judd’s sister Wynonna has revealed she has seen her sister for the first time since her freak accident while ape-tracking in the Congo (pictured)
She said: ‘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?”
‘Therein lies the job of a big sister right there,’ she said 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.’
The I Saw The Light hitmaker admitted she is ‘still processing’ what happened to her sister in the jungle but branded her recovery so far ‘a miracle’.
Ashley gave an update on her recovery last Monday after suffering devastating injuries; breaking her leg in four places and sustaining nerve damage.
What are sisters for: The American country singer, 56, said the actress, 52, has asked her to wash her hair as she is currently unable to do it herself after shattering her leg
She shattered her leg after tripping over a tree in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, while going to see the endangered bonobos monkeys, and got treatment at Sunninghill Hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa, after a grueling 55-hour journey.
Ashley wrote on Instagram: ‘I arrived to them from DRC in terrible shape and my leg had no pulse,’ along with a selection of photos of the medical staff taking care of her.
‘I desperately needed a blood transfusion. Their sisters (nurses) are exemplary, technically top notch, and they cared for the trauma in my body as well as my soul with equal proficiency.’
Recovery: Ashley gave an update on her recovery last Monday after suffering devastating injuries and shared candid images of her experience in hospital
The actress went on to say the staff had to make ‘split second decisions upon my arrival’ to work out how to treat her injury.
She said her surgeon, Dr. Eugene Greeff, ‘was super at stabilizing my leg with the external fixator until the massive soft tissue damage and swelling went down so that I could have the Big Operation’.
‘What he did was significant and I am forever in his debt,’ she added, while also noting that she’s been treated at the a time when South African hospitals are dealing with the COVID B.1.351 strain which is a faster-spreading variant of COVID-19.
‘I desperately needed a blood transfusion. Their sisters (nurses) are exemplary, technically top notch, and they cared for the trauma in my body as well as my soul with equal proficiency.’ Judd, 52, praised staff at the Johannesburg hospital
Deepest and most vulnerable thanks: Ashley gave an update on how her treatment has been going and also thanked everyone who has helped her through her recovery
‘What he did was significant and I am forever in his debt,’ Ashley said of her surgeon in Johannesburg, Dr. Eugene Greeff
Ashley is now back in the US, accompanied by her father Michael Ciminella who flew out to South Africa to be with her.
The actress revealed she and her dad made the 22-hour journey, consisting of four different flights, back to the U.S. ‘thanks to unbelievably efficient disaster travel insurance on an Air Ambulance.’
Once in an American hospital, Ashley said, ‘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.’
Broken: The actress also shared an X-ray of her shattered leg with screws in place
Ashley says she is now up and around and thanked all of the staff that have helped her through her traumatic experience.
The actress revealed on February 12 that she had been rushed to the ICU in a hospital in South Africa after she suffered a fall which left her with a ‘shattered leg in four places’ as well as ‘nerve damage’ whilst in the Congo.
Ashley shared images of her lengthy ordeal, which saw her travel across the continent in stages before reaching her final destination in South Africa.
Once in an American hospital, Ashley said, ‘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’
Making progress: Ashley says she is now up and around and thanked all of the staff that have helped her through her traumatic experience
Family: Ashley is now back in the US, accompanied by her father Michael Ciminella, who flew out to South Africa to be with her. he is seen here rubbing her injured foot
In a lengthy caption on Instagram, she wrote: ‘Friends. Without my Congolese brothers and sisters, my internal bleeding would have likely killed me, and I would have lost my leg.
‘I wake up weeping in gratitude, deeply moved by each person who contributed something life giving and spirit salving during my grueling 55 hour odyssey. (sic)’
Ashley went on to thank each of the people involved in getting her the help she needed, including a man she named ‘Papa Jean’, who ‘manipulated and adjusted [her] broken bones’ so that she could be transported safely.
She said: ‘Papa Jean: it took 5 hours, but eventually he found me, wretched and wild on the ground, and calmly assessed my broken leg. He told me what he had to do. I bit a stick. I held onto Maud.
Shocking: The actress revealed on February 12 that she had been rushed to the ICU in a hospital in South Africa after she suffered a fall which left her with a ‘shattered leg in four places’
Harrowing: Ashley endured a 55-hour rescue ordeal to get her out of the jungle in DRC and to South Africa for treatment
‘And Papa Jean, with certainty began to manipulate and adjust my broken bones back into something like a position I could be transported in, while I screamed and writhed. How he did that so methodically while I was like an animal is beyond me. He saved me. & he had to do this twice!
‘The six men who carefully moved me into the hammock with as little jostling as possible, who then walked for 3 hours over rough terrain carrying me out. Heros. (sic)’
The Double Jeopardy star sustained her injuries when she was out on an excursion and had been using a faulty head lamp, which made it difficult for her to see, and as a result she tripped over a fallen tree.
When she first detailed her experience, Ashley described it as ‘incredibly harrowing’, and said it began ‘with five hours of lying on the forest floor’ with one of her colleagues until she was able to be evacuated.
Brave: ‘The six men who carefully moved me into the hammock with as little jostling as possible, who then walked for 3 hours over rough terrain carrying me out. Heros. (sic)’
She added: ‘[He had] his leg under my badly misshapen leg, [and I was] biting my stick. Howling like a wild animal.’
Five hours after her accident someone arrived to reset her bones, before she was carried through the rainforest to a motorcycle, where she was driven for six hours to the city of Jolu.
After spending the night in the city, she was then flown to the capital of Kinshasa to stay for 24 hours and then, eventually, down to South Africa to be treated in an ICU in that country.
Speaking to The New York Times’ Nicholas Kristof for an Instagram Live interview, she said: ‘I’m in a lot of love. I’m in a lot of compassion and I’m in a lot of gratitude. I thank everyone for their thoughts and their prayers and their support.’