Man loses all four limbs to flesh-eating bacteria

What was believed to have been a simple cold actually turned out to be a flesh-eating bacterial infection which has robbed one British man of all four of his limbs.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Alex Lewis had his right arm amputated on June 25 after he broke it in three places the previous Friday.

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The 34-year-old developed septicaemia and toxic shock syndrome in November from a usually harmless Group A streptococcus infection.

The father-of-one called this terrible development a "minor setback" on Facebook the night before his operation.

"All of you make this minor setback a walk in the park, excuse the pun, with all your support," he said. "I continue to feel humbled every day and I still can't thank everyone enough for what they have done and what they are about to do..."

Lewis has beaten the odds thus far, surviving the 3% odds that doctors gave him after he fell into a coma due to his organs shutting down when he first underwent medical care back in November.

Surgeons worked for 16 hours to save his right arm, but Lewis lost both his legs, left arm, lips and part of his nose.

He now faces another six weeks in the hospital, during which time he will have reconstructive surgery on his lips.

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