Flesh-eating bacteria survivor trains for Paralympics

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Seven years ago Aimee Copeland wasn't sure if she would live or die.

"My life was in a precarious state," Aimee Copeland said.

In 2012, the then 24-year-old West Georgia graduate student contracted a flesh-eating bacteria after falling off a zip line and became a quadruple amputee.

Now, years later, Copeland is training for the Paralympics.

"It feels great to know all I've accomplished since then and what people with disabilities can accomplish no matter what their challenges might be," Copeland said.

A few years after her accident, Copeland said she wanted to get back to doing things she enjoyed.

"My friend said you should exercise and invited me to swim at the pool," Copeland said. "So I did and then that's when one of the swim coaches saw me and said I could be breaking records and not even know it."

So, Copeland started training with the swim instructor.

Now four days a week, you can find Copeland at the Windy Hill Athletic Club.

Copeland has already won two gold medals at the U.S. Paralympics National Championship, but she's not stopping there.

"My goal is to get an invitation to join TEAM USA at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo next summer," Copeland said.

Copeland said she will need to drop sometime before she will meet the standards to qualify.

"People see me on the streets and say they feel so sorry for me," Copeland said. "But the jokes on them because my life rocks and I wouldn't change it for anything."