Ashley Judd Shares Photos from 'Grueling 55-Hour' Rescue After Leg Injury in Africa

Ashley Judd is detailing her very scary accident in Africa that shattered her leg to pieces.

The 52-year-old actress took to her Instagram on Tuesday (February 16) to share photos from the “grueling 55-hour” rescue mission that saved her life after she shattered in leg during a trip through the forests in Congo.

“Friends. Without my Congolese brothers and sisters, my internal bleeding would have likely killed me, and I would have lost my leg,” Ashley wrote. “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. Dieumerci stretched out his leg and put it under my grossly misshapen left leg to try to keep it still.”

Ashley went on to detail how the Congolese people were able to help save her life.

“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. Papa Jean: it took 5 hours, but eventually he found me, wretched and wild on the ground, and calmly assessed my broken leg,” Ashley continued. “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!”

She added, “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 [sic]. 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,” Ashley concluded. “I show two pictures, one in his hat and one in mine, which he dearly covets! The women! My sisters who held me. They blessed me.”

Our thoughts are with Ashley as she recovers from this horrific accident.