Posted on 02/12/2021 5:46:24 PM PST by EdnaMode
Actress, author and humanitarian Ashley Judd is recuperating at a South African trauma unit after almost losing a leg in a “catastrophic” fall in a Congo rainforest.
In an Instagram Live chat with New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof – watch it below – Judd, speaking from her ICU bed, says she was walking in a Congo rainforest when she tripped over a fallen tree, shattering her leg. Judd, a frequent visitor to Congo, was doing work to track the Bonobos, an endangered great apes species.
Describing “an incredibly harrowing 55 hours” during which she was transported, in part by being hand-carried out, in part on a six-hour motorbike trip, from the remote rainforest location to a medical center in South Africa, Judd holds up the stick that she was biting to distract from the pain, “howling like a wild animal.” The actress, sister of Wynona Judd and daughter of Naomi Judd, recalls fading in and out of consciousness as she went into shock, repeatedly reciting “the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want” from Psalm 23.
Judd tells Kristof that despite the pain – “at the very edge of my edge” – and fear, she was fully aware of her “privilege” in having the opportunity to transfer to a fully equipped medical facility. Most Congolese people, she says, would have remained in the village, lost the leg and maybe a their life.
“The difference between a Congolese person and me is disaster insurance that allowed me 55 hours after my accident to get to an operating table in South Africa,” she says, adding that Congo villages lack not only electricity but “a simple pill to kill the pain when you’ve shattered a leg in four places and have nerve damage.”
Judd further explained on her own Instagram page, writing that she decided to speak out about the accident to spread the word about “what it means to be Congolese in extreme poverty with no access to health care, any medication for pain, any type of service, or choices.”
She continues, “Please join us and learn what it is like for much of the world – and how you can help. Bonobos matter. And so do the people in whose ancestral forest they range and the other 25,600,000 Congolese in need of humanitarian assistance.”
What is she....95 years old or something?
Nasty woman kharma.
That was Sheryl Crow.
I agree.
.
Naiomi Judd was a looker, At first I thought Wywona was the mom.
~ Warren Zevon
I don’t think she understands that yet.
Not sure what we can do. Is there any guarantee that the leaders of the Congo, such as may exist, will allow the aid to get to those people?
That is one nasty woman!
“Getting gay with kids today . . .” (Old reference)
There are Africans who support a free market system, but they’re probably in the minority, and their Red Chinese benefactors would hate it if Africa did that.
Of course . Just upping her game .
In the jungles of Guatemala, I stepped into a leaf-covered hole and fell into an Espinosa (Spine) needle tree, which collapsed on my head.
Luckily I had a canvas sailor’s cap on and that protected my head while I fell into the tree with a flat hand, thus avoiding most pine needles which were soft. The tree collapsed on me, sending me (6’2”) sprawling to the ground with my machete going one way, and me, the other.
My Mayan workers and I laughed our asses off. What else could I do, thank my “White Privilege” for not getting me beaned and pinned by a very solid Spine Tree?
In the jungle, life doesn’t work that way! Yoda
Tikal Expedition, 1966
#19. Wait for the movie!!
#22. Re She tripped and broke her leg in four places. How do you do that?
Lots of practice!! Snark
What was she doing in the Congo?
Ashley Judd the nutty feminist was great in “Heat”. So I won’t be a hater, I got time for that later. Heal up and be healthy. In her prime she was super cute.
Leg injuries are the worst because then you cannot be mobile. I wish them on no one. Maybe Stalin or Hitler.
“Prayers up for this lost and confused child of God.”
Exactly! She went astray but I liked her in movies.
ROFL!!
Low bone density.
She’s only 52??? Looks a lot older than that!
Bingo. Not to mention the only high paying job in the Congo is tour guiding silly twits like Judd who wants to see a gorilla. It never occurs to these left wing twits that capitalism is the source of her supposed privilege.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.