When Ashley Judd shattered her leg on an excursion in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2021, doctors told her she may never move her foot again — so she set out to prove them wrong.
Judd, 56, took to social media on Monday, May 13, to post a video via Instagram displaying just how far she’s come in her recovery process. In the clip set to Sia’s “Unstoppable,” Judd runs through an agility ladder and stands on her healed leg on a balance board. The short video shows Judd doing a series of exercises while she thanks her personal trainer and the people who carried her out of the Central African rainforest.
Judd was on an expedition looking for bonobos when a malfunctioning headlamp led to her tripping and breaking her leg. She told the New York Times from an ICU bed shortly after the accident that getting out of the remote area involved an hour and a half of being carried in a hammock and a six-hour ride on a motorcycle. She told the outlet that the long journey was necessary as the DRC “is not, unfortunately, equipped to deal with massive catastrophic injuries like I have had.”
Looking back on the event via Instagram, Judd still seemed awed that she made it home.
“That accident in DRC was hellacious to a factor of 10. I remain grateful to my siblings there who saved my life and encouraged my spirit as I was carried out of the depths of the second lung of the planet for 67 hours to get medical attention,” she wrote.
Judd’s recovery was far from a straight line. She noted that she suffered from a parasite “so exotic” that it landed in the New England Journal of Medicine and came down with the (far more common) condition of mononucleosis.
“Every day, I am profoundly grateful for SAG/AFTRA union insurance & my healthcare team,” she said. “Saved my leg, saved my life.”
Judd is moving through physical therapy with the goal of being able to hike again. She said she’s working on exercises that would help walking on “uneven terrain…and carrying a heavy backpack.” Judd shared that her ultimate goal is to hike at Yellowstone National Park.
For now, Judd is just excited to be able to move her foot and balance on her previously injured leg.
“When I had my nerve conduction study in 2021, the Doctor said, ‘I do not know that this foot will ever move again.’ To that dude….watch this,” she wrote over a video of her balancing on that same foot.
