What happened to Ashley Judd? Actress recalls freak accident in Congo rainforest that nearly killed her
Ashley Judd's excursion in the Congo rainforest took a turn for the worst when the actress tripped over a fallen tree. She shattered her leg in four different places and ended up with severe nerve damage. She did an Instagram Live on February 12 with Nicholas Kristof from The New York Times to talk about what exactly happened to her.
Judd revealed that she was in the Congo, working at a research camp that studies an endangered species of apes called bonobos. However, in a freak accident, Judd tripped over a fallen tree and shattered her leg. The actress is in an ICU trauma unit in South Africa, seeing that the Congo was not equipped to deal with her injuries. In the interview, she went on to explain how her privilege helped her survive the accident, drawing attention to the situation at hand. "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 said. Judd also took to Instagram to detail the entire incident, talking about how it was the Congolese people who helped her make it out of the situation alive.
Accompanied with multiple images from her tumultuous journey to safety, Judd detailed her entire accident and how it impacted her and those around her. "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. Here are some of their stories."
She spoke about a man named Dieumerci, who was the first to help her brave through the trauma. "Dieumerci stretched out his leg and put it under my grossly misshapen left leg to try to keep it still. It was broken in four places and had nerve damage. Dieumerci (“Thanks be to God”) remained seated, without fidgeting or flinching, for 5 hours on the rain forest floor. He was with me in my primal pain. He was my witness."
She then mentioned Papa Jean who was the first to treat her injuries. "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. 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."
Getting out of the forest was just as terrifying since there was no way to do so but via a bike on a dirt road. It is here that two men by the names of Didier and Maradona Came to her rescue. "Didier and Maradona: Didier drove the motorbike. I sat facing backwards, his back my backrest. When I would begin to slump, to pass out, he would call to me to re-set my position to lean on him. Maradona rode on the very back of the motorbike, I faced him. He held my broken leg under the heel and I held the shattered top part together with my two hands. Together we did this for 6 hours on an irregular, rutted and pocked dirt road that has gullies for rain run off during the rainy season. Maradona was the only person to come forward to volunteer for this task. We have a nice friendship, discussing the pros and cons of polygamy and monogamy. I show two pictures, one in his hat and one in mine, which he dearly covets!"
And lastly, she thanked the women who comforted her through the pain. "The women! My sisters who held me. They blessed me."
Judd had to be taken to South Africa, where she is currently recovering after receiving the required treatment.