Amy Copeland is a Victim of Flesh Eating Bacteria
LEMON: Flesh-eating bacteria. Let that sink in for a moment. Now, think about being forced to watch it ravage the body of someone you love. It's a reality for the Copeland family right here in Georgia. 24-year-old Amy is fighting to stay alive. Her life and the lives of her family turned upside down 12 days ago. That's when Amy and some of her friends went to the Little Pewsa river about 50 miles outside of Atlanta. Amy was on a homemade zip line when it snapped and gashed her leg. That's when the violent bacteria entered her body. She has lost the leg and part of her abdomen to the tissue-destroying bacteria. And I spoke with her father this evening and found out what he is not telling his daughter.</s>ANDY COPELAND, FATHER OF FLESH EATING VICTIM (via telephone): She actually does communicate with us through a series of head shakes and nods. We just basically kind of have to also do a little bit of lip reading, so she's actually holding up very well. She is, of course, medicated throughout this period. And, you know, occasionally she will remember things. Sometimes she won't, but I think that's just a process of the medication.</s>LEMON: OK. So she lost a leg, part of her abdomen. She is fighting. You said she's medicated, and she -- just to breathe it's really hard for her. But because of this bacteria, she may also lose her hands and her remaining foot, but she doesn't know that yet, and you're not telling her?</s>COPELAND: Well, you know, no, we haven't. Probably if we were to tell her, she would probably forget it by the time she woke up the next day. I understand, you know, that in fact I believe when the time comes, it will be revealed. I really am leading to the experts here. Leaning on the experts to let them make the determination for when the time is right. But -- and there will be. There's some good therapy here. They have a good psychiatrist on staff. There's good support groups, and I have every confidence that Amy will be able to overcome this.</s>LEMON: At this point it's really not necessary. Why even add that extra degree of burden on her. She's already in pain.</s>COPELAND: Absolutely.</s>LEMON: You've been chronicling your daughter's fight with posts online, and you're counting down to what you're calling Amy day.</s>COPELAND: Yes.</s>LEMON: Tell us about it.</s>COPELAND: Well, I -- I believe Amy day is the day that we get to hear Amy speak. To me, Amy day is the day that they pull the tube out of her -- out of her chest and basically she is allowed to breathe on her own. When her lungs are fully repaired and healed, I think that's just a day that we can all join together and rejoice because that's really the first step toward I think what I would -- what I would call full recovery.</s>LEMON: Thanks to Andy Copeland. After 70 years a world war II fighter plane turns up in Egypt. That's one mystery down. Next, trying to figure out what happened to the pilot and how it went unnoticed for so long.