Builder to donate home addition for woman with flesh-eating disease

ATLANTA — A builder says it will construct a home addition at no charge that’s designed to help with the rehabilitation of a Georgia woman who’s been battling a flesh-eating disease.

Executives with Pulte Homes of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., say its workers and partners are volunteering to construct the two-story 1,956-square-feet addition to Aimee Copeland’s suburban Atlanta home. Company officials say the addition, expected to be completed within 40 days, will include a new bedroom, a fitness room for rehabilitation and a study area.

The 24-year-old suffered a deep cut May 1 when she fell from a broken zip-line over a west Georgia river. She then contracted a rare infection called necrotizing fasciitis.

Doctors amputated her leg, foot and both hands. She’s now recovering at an east Georgia rehabilitation center.