I'm still able to view/edit the footer.php file through my WP Dashboard and also through my FTP client. And it still contains the small changes I made.
Here's the content of that file. Apologies if it's totally hard to read. And thanks again for your help on this!
</div>
</div>
</div>
<!--full width bottom widget -->
<?php if(m_pagelines('full_width_widget', $post->ID) && VPRO):?>
<div class="contentshadow">
<div class="content">
<div id="fullwidth_bottom_widgets" class="">
<?php if (!function_exists('dynamic_sidebar') || !dynamic_sidebar('Full-Width Bottom Sidebar')) : ?>
<div class="widget pad_big">
<p class="subtle"><?php _e('Full width widgets selected but no widgets have been added.',TDOMAIN);?></p>
</div>
<?php endif;?>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="clear"></div>
<?php endif;?>
<!--END full width bottom widget -->
<div class="clear"></div>
<?php
global $bbpress_forum;
if(($bbpress_forum && pagelinesforum('hide_bottom_sidebars')) || !pagelines('bottom_sidebars') || !VPRO) $hide_footer = true;
else $hide_footer = false;
?>
<?php if(!$hide_footer):?>
<div class="contentshadow">
<div class="content">
<?php include (THEME_LIB . '/_morefoot.php'); ?>
</div><!-- end container -->
</div><!-- end contentshadow -->
<?php endif; ?>
<div id="footer">
<div class="effect">
<div class="content">
<?php if(pagelines('twitfooter') && pagelines('twittername')):?>
<div id="footer_topline"><?php include (THEME_LIB . '/_twittermessages.php'); ?></div>
<?php endif;?>
<div id="fcolumns_container" class="fix">
<?php if ( !function_exists('dynamic_sidebar') || !dynamic_sidebar('Footer Columns') ) : ?>
<div class="fcol">
<div class="fcol_pad">
<?php if(pagelines('footer_logo') && VPRO):?>
/" title="<?php _e('Home',TDOMAIN);?>">
<img src="<?php echo pagelines('footer_logo');?>" alt="<?php bloginfo('name');?>" />
<?php else:?>
<h3 class="footer-site-title">/" title="<?php _e('Home',TDOMAIN);?>"><?php bloginfo('name');?></h3>
<?php endif;?>
</div>
</div>
<div class="fcol">
<div class="fcol_pad">
<h3><?php _e('Pages',TDOMAIN);?></h3>
<?php include(THEME_LIB."/_footer_nav.php");?>
</div>
</div>
<div class="fcol">
<div class="fcol_pad">
<h3><?php _e('Stay In Touch',TDOMAIN);?></h3>
</div>
</div>
<div class="fcol">
<div class="fcol_pad">
<h3><?php _e('More',TDOMAIN);?></h3>
<?php if(pagelines('welcomemessage')):?><div class="welcomemessage"><?php echo pagelines('welcomemessage');?></div><?php endif;?>
</div>
</div>
<div class="fcol">
<div class="fcol_pad">
<span class="terms">
<?php e_pagelines('terms');?>
</span>
</div>
</div>
<?php endif; ?>
</div>
<div class="clear"></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="clear"></div>
<div id="subfoot">
<?php if(pagelines('no_credit') || !VDEV):?>
<div id="cred" class="pagelines">
">
<img src="<?php echo THEME_IMAGES.'/pagelines.png';?>" alt="<?php echo THEMENAME;?> by PageLines" />
</div>
<?php endif;?>
<hr class="hidden" />
</div><!--/subfoot -->
</div><!--/wrapper -->
</div> <!-- end #site -->
<!-- Footer Scripts Go Here -->
<?php if (pagelines('footerscripts')) echo pagelines('footerscripts');?>
<!-- End Footer scripts -->
<?php wp_footer(); ?>
</body>
</html>