Dad was left unrecognizable after losing his lips and four limbs to flesh-eating bacteria – This is what he looks like today

The life story of Alex Lewis is like no other. This man refused to give up on his life no matter what it took, and today, he’s thriving with the help of his loving wife Lucy Townsend, and their son.

Alex and Lucy always knew they were meant for each other. When they married and welcomed their son Sam into their life, they felt like the happiest couple on Earth. But then in 2013, around the time Sam turned two, this family’s life took a different turn.

Both Alex and Sam caught the flu, or at least they believed so. However, as the boy got better in a short period of time, Alex wasn’t feeling fine even days after he experienced the flu-like symptoms.

“Because we owned and lived in a pub and came into contact with lots of different people, I assumed it was a seasonal cold and thought it started off as man flu,” Alex told Metro.

Instead of improving, his condition worsened and he became feverish and noticed blood in his urine.
As he could feel something was very wrong, he went to the hospital where doctors told him he contracted a streptococcal infection (type A). Unfortunately, at that point, the infection penetrated deep into the tissue and the organs and caused sepsis. Alex had contracted shock syndrome, septicemia, and necrotizing fascitis – and his body was attacking itself from the inside out.

“I called an ambulance, and within eight minutes, they were there. At the hospital, we went straight into resuscitation, and I was told to say goodbye. His kidneys were shutting down, and they were going to put him on life support,” his wife Lucy told The Guardian.

Doctors’ prognoses were dull. They told the family there was just a three percent chance that Alex would survive as his face and body turned black.

“They were going to turn my life support off, but they wanted to give me one more night to see if I improved, and they wanted to give my family a chance to say goodbye,” Alex told Metro.

“I cannot imagine what Lucy and my mum were going through.

“Having spoken to them since it happened, I think they were more in shock as they couldn’t believe something so incredibly invasive was happening so quickly,” he added.

“I don’t remember being in excruciating pain at this point, but my family remembers seeing me in absolute agony.”

It was determined that a flesh-eating bacteria was poisoning his body so doctors had to amputate his left arm up to the elbow. Sadly, as months passed by, Alex lost all of his limbs, and doctors were also forced to cut parts of his face in order to save his life.

“I can remember seeing my legs in hospital and how they were getting blacker and blacker,” Alex told The Guardian. “The blackness was creeping up towards my waist. I don’t remember seeing my left arm in that condition, but I can remember my legs vividly.”

As Alex lost his lips, plastic surgeon Alexandra Crick took skin from his shoulder in an attempt to fix his mouth.
“It would take me about an hour to eat a sandwich at night, and that was with the help of the nurse,” he told the Daily Mail.

“The last available skin for surgery was on my shoulder,” he explained. “So they replaced the temporary flap with that. All my other skin had to be used for grafts or was scarred.”

“Having my bottom and top lip done at the same time like this was a world first. It’s one piece of skin, and it was like if you imagine placing a bag in your mouth and then sewing around the edges. After the original operation, I had to have them every three or four months.”

Looking at his father, and how different he was, Sam was afraid to approach closer to him, but Lucy found a way to explain to him why his dad looked like that, which wasn’t easy as Sam was just two years old at the time.

After spending months at the hospital Alex could finally go home. The good thing was that doctors managed to save the elbow of his right arm which allowed him to have a prosthetic and be able to use his arm. Eventually, he could speak again as his lip surgery was a huge success.

“That one elbow is his whole independence,” Lucy said.

“I had to relearn everything,” Alex added. “From learning to eat, drink, put my clothes on, to learn to use a prosthesis, and to self propel a manual wheelchair.”

Today, Alex is involved in a number of tech projects which help ease the lives of disabled people. Among the rest, he has tested solar-powered, battery-assisted four-wheeled handles which have been designed by masters students at Southampton University.

Despite his condition, he’s living a quality life and is doing a lot of things, such as kayaking and climbing. In 2019, he climbed one of Africa’s tallest mountains using a specially adapted buggy.

“Since becoming an amputee, I’ve been fortunate enough to try out a number of training methods to keep my fitness up, working with physios and visiting the Help for Heroes training facilities,” he shared with Sports Management.

“I’ve had first-rate guidance, but nothing has been as effective as EMS training, especially in such a short space of time.

“It’s amazing how the machine helps me to engage muscles I haven’t felt since I lost my arms and legs,” he added.

“I feel stronger in training, daily life tasks are easier, and I’ve gained greater confidence that I can take on these challenges.”

His Wild Wheelchairs Project, besides helping improve the lives of disabled people, raises money to finance the construction and operation of a wheelchair manufacturing facility in Ethiopia.

Alex is also a motivational speaker who is happy with his life.
“I’ve lived more of a life in the past four years than I did in the previous 33, and it’s made me realize how much I love Lucy and Sam,” he told Metro.

“There was so much I regretted not doing when I had arms and legs, but I am not letting that happen again. I would not change anything, not in a heartbeat.”

Sam also learned to love his dad for who he is and is proud of him.

We truly admire this brave man’s resilience. His story is proof that no matter the curveballs life throws at us, we should always do our best to end up winners.

After Mom’s Death, Woman Leaves Sister 3 Dollar Bills and a Note as Her Inheritance – Story of the Day

When Julia and Helga’s father passed away, Helga fought their mother, Mrs. Hanson, for the inheritance. She said some horrible things, and Julie and Mrs. Hanson came up with a shocking plan to teach her a huge lesson.

“HOW DARE YOU?” Helga screamed at her mother, Mrs. Hanson, over the phone. Julia heard the entire thing from the kitchen, even though her mother was using the telephone in the living room and it wasn’t on speakerphone. Julia’s sister was angry that her mother had decided her will.

She would leave Helga 30% of the estate, while Julia would receive everything else. It wasn’t an equal division, but Mrs. Hanson felt that Julia deserved the money more than Helga because they had a better relationship. Helga and her husband had always been greedy and selfish, visiting or calling them only when they wanted something.

For illustration purposes only | Source: Pexels

For illustration purposes only | Source: Pexels

But the older woman was being generous. At first, Helga would not receive anything due to how she spoke to her mother. However, they recently had a set of twin babies at a relatively old age, as Helga was 47 and her husband was 51. Therefore, Mrs. Hanson decided to give her something. Unfortunately, Helga was not happy about it.

“Helga, please don’t yell,” Mrs. Hanson told her daughter on the phone and watched as Julia approached. She decided to put the call on speakerphone from then on.

“I knew you would see reason, Julia. Our mother was so obstinate.”

“MOTHER! You can’t just give everything to Julia! She doesn’t even have children. Don’t you care about the twins? They deserve their share of the money!” Helga exclaimed, not knowing that Julia was listening.

“Helga, it doesn’t matter whether Julia has kids or not. She sacrificed so much of her life to take care of your father and me, whereas you didn’t. Also, you’re married. You have a support system. On the other hand, this is my money, and I get to decide who receives it,” Mrs. Hanson reasoned. But this wasn’t the answer Helga wanted.

“I DON’T CARE WHAT JULIA HAS DONE! YOU KNOW WHAT? I CAN’T WAIT FOR YOU TO DIE, AND I’LL SUE FOR MY SHARE! GOODBYE!” Helga screamed spitefully and ended the call abruptly.

For illustration purposes only | Source: Pexels

For illustration purposes only | Source: Pexels

Mrs. Hanson placed her forehead on her hand and breathed deeply. Julia was finally angry, but she couldn’t show it. She couldn’t believe her sister would say something so horrible to their mother.

“Mom, she’s just angry. She didn’t mean that,” lied Julia to console her mother, but Mrs. Hanson knew the truth. Helga meant it and would fight tooth and nail for a more significant share in the will. Luckily, their lawyer in Washington D.C. told them that as long as Helga received something, she wouldn’t be able to contest it.

Over the next few months, Helga called several times to persuade Mrs. Hanson to change her will. These conversations always ended in huge fights that took a serious toll on the older woman, and Julia became even angrier at her sister.

Finally, their mother died, and Helga made a scene at the funeral, pretending to be in so much distress over her passing. Fortunately, most relatives knew her real character, although they didn’t know how awful she had been during the last few months of Mrs. Hanson’s life.

After the funeral, Helga started calling Julia about the money. They both received their share, but it seemed like her sister was now going to be nasty to Julia until she complied and gave her some more money.

For illustration purposes only | Source: Pexels

For illustration purposes only | Source: Pexels

Finally, Julia came up with a plan. During one phone call, she revealed her idea to Helga. “Ok, listen. I want to move to New York, so I’m going to sell Mom’s house for good. I’ll give you 50% of the sale, although the house is in my name. Does this seem fair?” she asked her sister.

“Oh, that’s fantastic, Julia! Thank you! I knew you would see reason. Our mother was so obstinate. You’re the best aunt to the twins ever. I swear this is all for their future,” Helga gushed over the phone. Julia didn’t know if she was genuinely planning on putting the money towards her children, but it didn’t matter because Julia was lying.

The sale of the house went quickly because it was located in a pretty great area of the capital, and there were tons of buyers. Helga was salivating at the idea of receiving half of the house sale. Julia thought she didn’t deserve it at all.

For illustration purposes only | Source: Pexels

For illustration purposes only | Source: Pexels

“Ok, I’m going to place your part of the money in a bank account, and I’ll send you the details later. Is that alright?” Julia asked her sister when they had coffee right before she left for New York.

“Of course! Of course! Though, I’m going to miss you so much!” Helga said with a smile that Julia didn’t trust at all.

“Cool, well, goodbye,” Julia replied, standing up and giving her sister the most awkward hug in the world. But Helga placed all her acting chops on the embrace, pretending like she was indeed going to miss her sister.

A week after Julia left the state, she finally sent her sister the details to the safety deposit box.

“Your sister couldn’t just wire the money to our account?” Helga’s husband asked, thinking this procedure odd.

For illustration purposes only | Source: Pexels

For illustration purposes only | Source: Pexels

“She’s an idiot. You know that. I’ll go to the bank right now and check things out,” Helga responded, smiling cattily.

But at the bank, she was taken to the safety deposit box and saw three $1 bills inside it. “That’s all?” she asked aloud and finally noticed the note inside next to the bills. It read: “That’s all you deserve.”

Helga’s screams and cries were heard through the entire bank that day. But Julia had blocked her, and they never saw each other again.

What can we learn from this story?

  • Greediness leads to nothing. Helga treated everyone horribly and only wanted money. She received nothing in the end.
  • Follow your relative’s wishes. Although Helga pestered her terribly, Julia didn’t want to go against her mother’s desires.

Share this story with your friends. It might brighten their day and inspire them.

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