Backstage Country

LISTEN LIVE

Ashley Judd Looks Back At Nearly Losing Her Leg

It was nearly a year ago that we brought you the story of Ashley Judd’s horrific accident in the African Congo that nearly cost her a limb (and her life!). …

Ashley Judd

HOLLYWOOD, CA – MARCH 04: Ashley Judd attends the 90th Annual Academy Awards at Hollywood & Highland Center on March 4, 2018 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

Now, she's returned to the region and shared this message on her Instagram account:

Good greetings, 2022.  It is nice to see you, on this, the 11 month anniversary of having broken my leg in four places and paralyzing my foot (not to mention nearly hemorrhaging to death). I have just walked a nourishing twenty five miles in my #Appalachian home-place, the #GreatSmokyMountainsNationalPark, and then romped up and down our annual New Year snowy paths on an #Alp in #Switzerland. All this has me feeling ready. For what? Yes. #Congo. I return now. My heart is open and eager. I do not yet know what I will feel, I know only that I will feel, and I am ready to greet the experience with curiosity, wonder, and an abundance of gratitude for every life-saving sister and brother who stroked my face, carried my make shift hammock through the rain forest for hours, wept alongside my agony, or simply laid beside me as I bit a stick while in shock. And really, all that is in the past now. What is here, now, is a leg that works (with a wee limp and a some knee stiffness at times), a spirit that won’ let anything hold it back, and a desire to show up for the fullness of a beautiful life - and that life includes the endangered, egalitarian bonobos who live free from coercion. And you. Thank you for walking with me. Peace be with you. 

Good for Ashley Judd.  She's a much better person than me.  Something like that happens in my life and I'm permanently crossing that destination off my "To Do" list.

Charlie Nance is the Afternoon Drive co-host (along with his wife) of "The Charlie and Debbie Show" at WSOC, Country 1037 in Charlotte, North Carolina. The couple have been with the radio station since 2006. Charlie has won the prestigious CMA (Country Music Association) Award for Radio Personality of the Year and has been a finalist for the Country Radio Hall of Fame four times. Prior to his time in Charlotte, Charlie (along with Debbie) spent more than a decade hosting successful morning radio shows in Greenville, SC; Augusta, Ga; and Birmingham, Al. As a content creator for Country 1037, Charlie writes about dream lottery windfalls, sports, restaurants and bars, and travel experiences in North and South Carolina.