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Family: Sharon Wand moving, communicating
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MADISON - Family of Sharon Wand say she has made incredible progress in the hospital since the house fire Sept. 7 that critically burned her body.

After more than a month in a coma - and losing the baby she was carrying at the time of the fire - she is finally able to speak and is relearning to walk. She has been in the burn unit at the University of Wisconsin Hospital in Madison since the fire.

"She is able to move. She is communicating well with us," said her aunt, Lessa Bobak. Wand was able to walk 60 feet on Monday, she added.

Besides her physical recovery, Wand in recent weeks has also been dealing with the gut-wrenching trauma of losing three children and moreover learning that her husband and nephew are charged with killing them.

Jeff Peterson said his daughter is struggling to understand the turn of events. He and his wife have stayed by her side at the hospital since the fire.

"She doesn't know why it happened," Peterson said.

A team of mental health professionals are working with Wand to help her cope, Bobak said

- Katjusa Cisar