CHICAGO -- The Wisconsin woman who was beaten and left for dead in an Illinois storage unit says she'll return home from the hospital soon.

Teri Jendusa-Nicolai (pictured, right) addressed the media Thursday, saying she's recovering well and will become fully independent again.

Jendusa-Nicolai was beaten to within an inch of her life, NBC5's Charlie Wojciechowski said Thursday.

When she was found crumpled in a trash can in an unheated Wheeling storage locker, her body temperature was only 82 degrees and she was missing a three-inch patch of skin from her scalp.

Wojciechowski said that after 10 surgeries and hours of rehabilitation, Jendusa-Nicolai says she's ready to get on with the rest of her life.

Getting around is still difficult for Jendusa-Nicolai, but in the month and a half since she was severely beaten and left for dead, she has made a dramatic recovery.

"This past Monday I stood on my feet for the first time in seven weeks," she said. "It was for five seconds. I'm up to a minute and 15 seconds, which seems like nothing for normal people, but it is a great feat for me."

It was a great feat, in part, because Jendusa-Nicolai's toes had to be amputated because of the frostbite she suffered. Doctors had initially thought they would have to remove half of her feet.

"Ultimately, Teri lost all of her toes," said one of her doctors, Matt Jimenez. "While it seems like a great loss, in her case it is quite a victory."

"Talking about the extreme makeover, this is the true medical makeover that she is recovering," Dr. Michael Byun added.

It was Super Bowl Sunday when Wisconsin police issued an Amber Alert for the 38-year-old mother's two young children. They thought Jendusa-Nicolai's ex-husband, David Larsen, had abducted her and the children after a custodial visit. They suspected that he drove to Illinois with them in his pickup truck.

The children were later found uninjured with a baby sitter, but prosecutors say Jendusa-Nicolai was attacked with a baseball bat, then stuffed inside a plastic garbage can at the storage facility.

The trauma caused her to miscarry a 5-week-old pregnancy.

Her doctors expect the woman to check out of Lutheran General Hospital in the next couple of days. After that, NBC5 reported, it'll be a long road of physical therapy. She's expected be able to walk on her own within a year.

"I do say that a lot of it still comes from my faith in God. He kept me here to take care of my girls," Jendusa-Nicolai said of her recovery.

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