Alex Lewis, 38, lost all four limbs and his lips to a deadly infection which he mistook as a routine cold and left him with a three percent chance of survival. Mr Lewis had skin from his shoulder grafted around his mouth after he lost part of his face because of a vicious flesh-eating infection and has had lips tattooed onto the skin. His ordeal began in November 2013 when he first thought he just had the ‘man flu’ but five weeks later he was in coma and his major organs began to shut down.

Mr Lewis, a former pub landlord with his now-fiancee Lucy Townsend, 44, first realised something was wrong in November 2013. He told MailOnline, “One day I got up in the middle of the night and there was blood in my urine. Then when I woke up the next day I couldn’t really move, and my skin started to turn people purple.” He was rushed to the hospital in Winchester where medics discovered an infection was attacking his organs.

Alex Lewis in Hospital with Amputated Limbs

Alex Lewis with his limbs amputated and distorted lips. (Photo Credits: Alex Lewis/Facebook)

Mr Lewis had Strep A – Group A Streptococcal Infection – which was progressing to toxic shock syndrome, septicaemia and necrotising fasciitis. His condition was life-threatening and deteriorated within hours. Things started to get worse as gangrene started to spread across his body. Up to 20 percent of cases are thought to be fatal and flesh cannot be recovered once it has died. Doctors then had no choice but to amputate his limbs to prevent infection reaching Mr Lewis’ vital organs. The infection had also got to the end of his nose and his lips turned gangrenous, so surgeons cut all the dead skin away and placed a temporary flab of skin on his mouth for nine months.

After Mr Lewis had recovered from his illness, doctors set about rebuilding his mouth. Lips were recreated using shoulder skin. Salisbury-based plastic surgeon Alexandra Crick was able to create his new lips in a ‘brutal surgery’. At first, the new lips were made of naturally fattier skin than the rest of his face and were of a different colour, making them stand out a lot. But after six operations, to thin the transplanted skin has reduced their size and blended them into his cheeks and chin more successfully. Tattooing created realistic-looking lips and freckles. This was done by Karen Betts for free.

Alex with His Son Sam

Alex with his son Sam. (Photo Credits: Alex Lewis/Facebook)

Speaking to the Metro, Mr Lewis said, “I know it sounds mad, but I do think that that year was the best year of my 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 realise how much I love Lucy and Sam.” Sam is his three-year-old son who was initially scared coming near his father after his body and face was disfigured by such devastating surgery. But this hellish incident hasn’t stopped Mr Lewis from being active. Since his amputations he has done a skydive, kayaked hundreds of miles and next year plans to hand cycle up Ethiopia’s tallest mountain.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 03, 2018 12:39 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).