A 39-year-old man lost his lips and all four of his limbs after having a dangerous flesh-eating infection.
To repair his face, Brave Alex Lewis from Stockbridge in Hampshire underwent a world-first operation and medical tattooing.
Lewis is a designer says that if someone would offer him legs, arms and face back he wouldn’t take them. It all started in November 2013 when he thought it as just a man-flu but five weeks later his major organs started to shut down and he went in a coma.
He told Femail: “The truth is that if you offered me my legs, arms and face back I wouldn’t take them.”
“This whole process has been a blessing more than curse.”
“I have been involved in interior design projects up and down the country.”
“I have discovered I enjoy public speaking and have been fortunate enough to have been asked to speak around the world on topics ranging from design, engineering and technology to disability, inclusion, motivation and resilience.”
He spent more than six months in hospital and had to go through 18 operations. The condition of Alex started to improve and he is the first person to ever have the procedure done.
Alex added: “I started working on my iPad in hospital as Lucy had expanded The Greyhound (the Grosvenor’s sister hotel) to add on three more en-suite bedrooms in the cottage next door.”
“This really helped me as it became clear I could continue to work even without my limbs and it gave me something to focus on other than the reality of my condition.
“The majority of my work for The Grosvenor is still carried out on an Apple iPad Pro from mood boards to design layout.
“Site meetings can be tricky but I can certainly tackle a flight of stairs on a building site.”
Salisbury-based plastic surgeon Alexandra Crick recreated Alex’s lips using skin from his shoulder. Alex got his lips after going through six operations and now his skin grafts have decreased in size and blended into his cheeks and chin.
“Having my bottom and top lip done at the same time like this was a world first,” Alex said.
“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.”
“Facial surgery is by far the most dramatic type of surgery you can go through; I remember waking up I was mortified. I didn’t sleep for seven days after the surgery,” he added.
“It’s incredible that all the nerves and the muscles have regrown and they function as normal lips.”
Alex has now become a campaigner for amputees and has learnt to walk again using two prosthetic legs. He had just a three per cent chance of survival, fortunately, he survived and defied the odds.
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