The condition of a University of West Georgia student battling a flesh-eating bacteria has improved.

The Doctors Hospital of Augusta said Tuesday that Aimee Copeland has gone from critical to serious condition.

Copeland is two weeks away from beginning rehab and getting fitted for prosthetics. Following a fall from a homemade zip line on May 1, she contracted the bacteria that caused her to lose both her hands, a leg and her other foot.

Copeland's father left her bedside on Monday to travel to the University of South Carolina to thank blood donors for a drive in his daughter's name. It was the first time Copeland's father, Andy, skipped her three-hour visitation time at the hospital where she is being treated.

"I wasn't strong enough to even leave the room," Andy Copeland said.
 
He said those three hours are precious, but he spent them at his alma mater instead to thank those who donated more than 300 units of blood.

Andy Copeland took an opportunity to challenge his daughter's alma mater, the University of Georgia, to an ongoing blood donation competition.

He said his daughter was supposed to have her first skin graft on Monday, but it was bumped back due to emergency burn patients.