Photos: Young dad loses lips & all four limbs to a flesh-eating bug

A young father who lost all four of his limbs when a common cold turned into a flesh-eating bug has endured a 20-hour operation to rebuild his lips.

Alex Lewis, 34, lost his arms, legs and parts of his face to a deadly virus but has now had his face transformed using flesh from his shoulder.

The quadruple amputee underwent two days of gruelling surgery to open his mouth back up and give him back his lips.

Mr Lewis spent six hours in the operating theatre at Salisbury District Hospital while surgeon Dr Alexandra Crick opened up his mouth and stitched in a temporary sponge foam.

His lips were then built up using flesh from his shoulder and two veins were fused into his artery so his new flesh has its own blood supply.

Extra skin was finally stitched onto the left side of his mouth, which will be removed in two weeks if there are no problems with the healing process.

The new skin around Mr Lewis’ lips will eventually turn the same colour as his face, the skin will shrink and there will be no scarring.

The operation left Mr Lewis ‘petrified’ but he said he is now confident that one day he will smile again.

Mr Lewis, who lives in Stockbridge, Hampshire, with wife Lucy and their three-year-old son Sam, said: ‘This feels like an incredible step forward to the end result.

‘I feel now the worst is over and I can now look forward to the healing process of my face changing.

‘I know it will look like me, just with a few cuts and bruises along the way.

‘But I have never felt so scared. I was absolutely petrified.

‘I could see the puffiness of my lips and the big flap of skin on the left hand side of my mouth and thought "my God".

Mr Lewis wants his photos to be published so that he can be a role model to his son Sam.

He said: ‘I think a lot of people I know will thankfully appreciate the level of surgery and the skill that was undertaken in it all, and they won’t just see two huge puffy lips.

‘It is quite comical to look at. I do find it funny in a macabre kind of way, a weird funny.

’I won’t shy away from it though. It will affect me at times and I’m sure I’ll see myself in the mirror and think "look at the state of that" but that’s part of it.

‘I want my son to be proud of me and at ease in his skin and with everything he does.

‘You have no clue what life is going to throw at you and you have to deal with it as it comes.

‘I don’t want him to stress about the little things in life.'

He added that the experience has made him less concerned about body image.

He said: ‘I am far more comfortable in my skin now than I ever was.

‘I always tried to look my best when I went out but I won’t ever miss those days again. I have got a whole different view on vanity now.

‘I used to have body issues. I used to hate my legs, which is ironic because I haven’t got any now. I don’t have those fears any more or those worries.'

The support of family and friends has been integral to his recovery over the last nine months, as setback after setback left him feeling like he was ‘falling to the ground’.