CBS News/ September 11, 2012, 5:16 PM

Aimee Copeland appears on talk show to discuss battle with flesh-eating disease

aimee copeland, necrotizing fasciitis, flesh-eating bacteria

This image released by Disney-ABC Domestic Television shows host Katie Couric, right, applauding as Aimee Copeland, 24, who survived a rare fleshing-eating disease, as she arrives with a new walker for an exclusive interview on the daytime talk show "Katie," Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2012, in New York.

/ AP

(CBS/AP) Aimee Copeland, the Georgia woman who made headlines with her battle and recovery from a rare fleshing-eating disease, told Katie Couric she doesn't take life for granted anymore.

Aimee Copeland aims for independence in rehab from flesh-eating bacteria
Aimee Copeland heads home after four-month recovery from flesh-eating bacteria
Pictures: Ga. student's amazing recovery from flesh-eating infection

The 24-year-old University of West Georgia graduate student walked onto stage Tuesday on Couric's new show, "Katie," using a new walker. Copeland was joined in New York by her parents and sister.

After Couric interviewed the family, she announced that an Atlanta-area Chevrolet dealer was in the studio to give Copeland a new minivan that will be retrofitted so she can drive it.

Copeland got a rare form of the flesh-eating infection necrotizing fasciitis in May after falling from a zip line and gashing her leg over a Georgia river. Doctors had to amputate both hands, her left leg and right foot in a publicized struggle with the disease that her father Andy updated the public on through his blog.

34 Photos

Ga. student's amazing recovery from flesh-eating infection

She returned to her Snelville, Ga. home in suburban Atlanta on August 22 after nearly four months in the hospital and a rehabilitation clinic.

A homebuilder, Pulte Homes, added an almost 2,000-square-foot living space for Copeland onto her parents' home that was paid for entirely by donations. The new wing included a bedroom and bathroom with wheelchair-accessible features, a fitness room and an elevator between the addition's two floors.