COLUMBUS, Ohio — Aimee Copeland captured our hearts last Summer when she lost both her hands and legs to a flesh eating bacteria during zip line accident. But there is hope tonight here in Columbus, Ohio.

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wsbtv.com / GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Aimee Copeland, the 25-year-old Gwinnett County woman who lost her hands and legs to a flesh-eating bacteria, remains full of gratitude nearly a year after her illness.

“We just wanted to get involved as a way of giving back, as a thank you for all the support that we’ve gotten,” Copeland said.

Copeland was the keynote speaker at the Gwinnett County Salvation Army’s annual luncheon benefiting the Home Sweet Home program.

Snellville Patch – Aimee Copeland revealed on March 28 that she will be the recipient of iLimbs, a system of highly advanced prosthetics.

Aimee Copeland will soon be the recipient of a set of iLimbs, an advanced set of prosthetic arms that are controlled by electrodes.

This past Tuesday, March 26, she also walked on two legs for the first time since her injury, and will soon receive a set of advanced prosthetic legs.

“To help other people heal,” she said during a South Gwinnett Rotary Club meeting, “you first have to heal yourself.”

GWINNETT COUNTY, GA–  As the wheelchairs move toward one another you see instant smiles and flashes of recognition on the faces of Aimee Copeland and Kyle Maynard.   The two have a lot in common and have heard stories of one another, but this is their first time meeting. The smiles are followed by a hug.

Two amputees with very different stories of how they arrived to this day.   Last year, Aimee Copeland contracted a rare flesh eating bacteria while ziplining with friends.  To save her life, doctors had to amputate both feet, a leg and her hands.   Kyle Maynard is a congenital amputee who was born with only portions of his arms and legs.

NORTH DECATUR, Ga. -

Friday, the Snellville woman who nearly lost her life battling a rare flesh-eating bacteria shared her story with students at a DeKalb County elementary school.

HLN -

Editor’s note: Andy Copeland is the dad of Aimee Copeland, the Georgia native who battled a flesh-eating bacterial infection in May 2012. Necrotizing fasciitis eventually led to the amputation of major organs, including her leg, feet, and hands.  

It has now been seven months and 20 days since I received that fateful phone call from the Carrollton, GA emergency room. Our family came face-to-face with a villain called necrotizing fasciitis that tried to steal our daughter’s life. We fought that thief with the only thing we knew: A heap of love and the power of prayer. The result has been nothing short of miraculous.

“I’m just so excited, I could just burst!” That’s what Aimee Copeland said Friday after getting her own customized van.

It was a gift from Steve Rayman of Steve Rayman Chevrolet.

“This is really incredible. I never thought this would happen in a million years. I think most people never thought I would drive, you know,” Copeland said,

Rayman said he followed Copeland’s story from the very beginning. The 24-year-old was hospitalized this summer after a zip line accident.

Daily Mail – She both wowed and captured the hearts of the nation yesterday when she walked on to the Katie Couric show and talked optimistically about her future without limbs.

And Aimee Copeland’s courage and sheer happiness showed no sign of wavering today as she spoke toGood Morning America – which aired footage of her doing pushups – telling them this is the ‘better version’ of her.

When the 24-year-old was asked if she is still the same person as she was before the flesh eating bacteria, despite having her hands, leg and feet amputated, she said: ‘Absolutely, this is the better version of me. It’s just something where you say “Hey this is hard but we are gonna make the best of it”.

Associated Press – Aimee Copeland, a 24-year-old University of West Georgia graduate student, walked onto stage Tuesday on Couric’s new show, “Katie,” using a walker she’d gotten just five days earlier and a prosthetic leg. As she made her way slowly across the stage to a chair, Couric and the studio audience stood and applauded.

“You did it,” Couric said as she bent down to hug Copeland as she sat in the chair. “That was a beautiful sight to see, Aimee Copeland.”

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution – Bohemian, earthy and eclectic. That’s Aimee Copeland, family and friends say.

That also describes the new digs the Snellville woman will come home to next week when she leaves a rehab center where she’s been recovering from a flesh-decaying infection that claimed her leg, foot and both hands.

Builder Pulte Homes handed over keys to a 1,956-square-foot wing to the Copeland family home on Wednesday. Pulte and 50 of its trade partners, including Home Depot, built the warm, spacious, two-story addition at no cost to the family and equipped it for Copeland’s special needs. Copeland, who will use a wheelchair and prosthetics, had major input in planning the space, where earth tones and eclectic style abound.