Christa Pike is now walking and eating as lawyers make major health update following execution survival

Christa Pike's lawyers say she is walking, eating normally and regaining movement in her arms just days after surviving a failed execution.

In a statement on Thursday, her legal team said: "The turnaround in Christa Pike's health in the last three days has been profound and a credit to the medical team caring for her." It was issued by Randy Spivey and Kelly Gleason of the Tennessee Office of the Post Conviction Defender, and Stephen Ferrell and Luke Ihnen of Federal Defender Services of Eastern Tennessee.

The statement said Pike woke from unconsciousness on the morning of Tuesday 6 October and began taking limited steps on Wednesday afternoon. "Today, she is walking with some assistance, and her arms—which sustained significant injuries during the execution attempt—are healing and regaining movement and strength," the lawyers wrote. "Her lungs are clear, and she has started to eat a regular diet. Physicians are encouraged by her physical recovery."

Christa Pike's execution was halted just one hour before it was due to take place (WBIR Channel 10)

But they cautioned that the long-term picture is unclear. "While her physical recovery has been remarkable, significant questions remain about the long-term effects of what she endured," they said.

"Christa is dealing with the profound psychological trauma of having survived a failed execution, including the terror, pain and uncertainty of believing she was about to die," the statement continued. "We cannot yet know the full emotional and psychological toll of that experience or how long it will take her to begin to heal."

The lawyers said Pike "continues to express concern for others, particularly the family of her victim Colleen Slemmer." They also said she is still dealing with "cognitive challenges with concentration and memory," and that "her physicians have cautioned that it may take months to fully understand whether she sustained lasting cognitive injuries."

Christa Pike's lawyers have issued an update following her botched execution (Tennessee Department of Corrections)

The statement also set out the defence team's account of her background. They said Pike committed her crime at 18 "after a childhood marked by rape, sexual violence, physical abuse and neglect," and that later in her incarceration she was "finally properly diagnosed and treated for bipolar disorder and PTSD caused by her upbringing."

"Christa has endured more than enough," the lawyers said. "We continue to call on Gov. Lee to commute her death sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole. She should never be subjected to another execution attempt."

Pike has spent the last three decades on death row after she was convicted of the 1995 killing of her classmate Colleen Slemmer.

Her case drew widespread attention as her execution date neared, since she would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years.

Before the execution date, she voiced fears about lethal injection and said she would prefer a firing squad. She refused what was supposed to be her last meal.

She survived two doses of the poison meant to kill her.