Aimee Copeland leaves hospital for rehab - Atlanta News, Weather, Traffic, and Sports | FOX 5

Aimee Copeland was released from an Augusta hospital on Monday, two months after cutting her leg in a zip lining accident.  The 24-year-old Snellville woman has been battling a flesh-eating bacteria ever since the accident, but she left Doctors Hospital with help from her mother, according to the Associated Press.

Copeland, a University of West Georgia student, developed necrotizing fasciitis following the May 1 accident, and as a result doctors were forced to amputate her left leg, right foot and both of her hands.  Last week, hospital officials confirmed that Copeland's condition had been upgraded to good.  

In an interview with the Associated Press, Copeland's father, Andy, said her hospital farewell was bittersweet. He also said Aimee's mother arrived early to help her get ready, even doing her makeup.  

Her father says Aimee will go from the hospital to an undisclosed rehabilitation center, where she'll learn how to get around in a wheelchair.

The Copeland's Norcross architect, Rob Ponder, told FOX 5 that Aimee had an active role in designing an addition to her parents' home which will accommodate her needs.

"I've gotten to meet with Aimee twice to interview her and find out what she wants in the house," Ponder said in a phone interview. "She is personally involved with picking where the room is, where the windows are, what the colors are, where the ceiling is.  She doesn't want wood ceilings, she wants white ceilings."

Ponder says Andy Copeland initially told him that he had three to five months to build the addition but things changed.

"He told me Aimee is doing fantastic and her prognosis had picked up and her time in rehab may be as short as 6 to 8 weeks," said Ponder.

Aimee's Wing will be 2,000 square feet and include a large bedroom and bath, a study, a rehab/fitness room, a sunroom and a residential elevator.

"With Aimee's case it's gonna take a lot of accessibility accommodation to be able to move around in a wheelchair at first and then as she learns to work with her prosthetics, to be able to move around on prosthetics. And then eventually when she's good with her prosthetics we want it to feel like a normal house," said Ponder.

Ponder says Aimee is ecstatic to get on with her life and sees herself as having an opportunity to blessed others by sharing her experience.

"She is really, really excited about the next step in her life. She truly appreciates being alive," said Ponder.

Ponder says Aimee wants to finish her thesis and hopes to complete her studies at Graduate School as soon as possible.

Copeland's progress while in the hospital has defied doctors' expectations.  Her father has said previously that at first, doctors gave her little chance of survival.  Aimee Copeland was sedated for weeks, breathing on a respirator while she underwent amputations and skin grafts as part of her recovery.