This man caught what he thought was a common cold, but the cold turned into a mysterious illness, that slowly and surely caused him pain and loss of limbs. Here is the story of Alex Lewis and how he lost everything and still came out as a winner.
Alex Lewis was living a normal life in 2013. He had a beautiful wife and a young son then. But it all changed as he contracted the common cold. Instead of getting medical advice, Alex stayed at home and thought that the cold was pass, as it was the season of cold and even his son had one.
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However, as time passed by, Alex’s condition became extremely serious. He suffered from high fever and as time passed, he started passing blood in the urine and ultimately, his urine turned purple. Akex’s wife Lucy recalls that fateful night and says, “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”
Doctors at the hospital told Lucy and Alex that all of his organs were shutting down due to a strange, but deadly disease, he had contracted from the cold.
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It was found that Alex had contracted streptococcal infection that had caused blood poisoning and organ failure. It is bacterial infection that starts to eat away at the organs. Alex was in coma for a week, but miraculously pulled through. However, his legs and an arm were infected badly and doctors had to amputate them to stop the spreading of the infection.
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They also had to remove a part of his face, as it was been eaten away by the infection. Alex says, “I can remember seeing my legs in hospital and how they were getting blacker and blacker. 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.”
But more than the pain of losing his limbs, he was hurt when his own son Sam, was reluctant to come near him, as he was scared of what his father had become. By the end of 2014, his other arm was also amputated and a man that was once fit was now rendered immobile.
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Currently, Alex and Lucy have set up a trust fund for collecting 180,000 pounds, needed for a computerized prosthetic legs, which will change the way he moves around. He already raised 20,000 pounds for two prosthetic arms that have enabled him to eat using metal pinchers.
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A filmmaker Leonardo Machado made a documentary on Alex named ‘The Extraordinary Case of Alex Lewis’. He said that the difficult part was saving his relationships with all people he loved and that was made easy as both Alex and Lucy started seeing the funny side of things thanks to some of Alex’s friends and neighbours.
Alex said that he got the will and strength to get back where he had left because of the support from his wife and love from his son. He says,” But mentally I was still Alex, and the fact that I’d somehow maintained a sense of humour through it all helped. I could still chat to them about their family, their kids, what they were doing at work. Our room in Salisbury hospital was one of laughter.” “And of love.”