Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
LANDSTUHL, Germany (AP) -- Rescued U.S. POW Jessica Lynch is steadily improving and spending less time in bed since she was moved out of intensive care at a military hospital, a spokesman said Thursday.
Lynch, a 19-year-old Army private first class from Palestine, W. Va., was moved to a regular ward at Germany's Landstuhl Regional Medical Center on Wednesday.
"She's continuing to receive physical therapy, and I know that she is sitting down and not always in bed," said Capt. Norris Jones, a spokesman at the hospital. No further surgery is planned for her at Landstuhl, although it remains unclear when she will return to the United States, he said.
Lynch was captured March 23 after her 507th Maintenance Company convoy was ambushed in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah. She was rescued from a hospital in the city April 1 by U.S. commandos and airlifted to Germany.
Lynch is being treated for a head wound, an injury to her spine and fractures to her right arm, both legs, and her right foot and ankle. Gunshots may have caused open fractures on her upper right arm and lower left leg, according to the hospital.
Her parents, sister, brother and a cousin have been at Landstuhl since Sunday, and spent two hours with Lynch on Wednesday night, Jones said.
Lynch's relatives planned to donate blood for other patients at the hospital later Thursday, he added.
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
