An influencer who shot to fame after documenting her 312-pound weight loss is in the hospital and ‘working on recovery’ after her ‘organs started failing’, her husband has revealed.
Lexi Reed, 31, from Indiana, was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) last month and had to be put on a ventilator in a medically induced coma, according to her husband Danny.
In a candid Instagram post that was shared on Thursday, he gave Lexi’s 1.2 million followers an update on her health scare, explaining she started getting severely sick and couldn’t keep any food down.
Weight loss influencer Lexi Reed, 31, from Indiana, was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) last month and had to be put on a ventilator in a medically induced coma
In a series of candid Instagram posts that were shared on Thursday, Lexi’s husband Danny explained that she started getting severely sick and couldn’t keep any food down
Lexi, who lost 312 pounds in two years, was admitted to the hospital because her ‘organs started failing’
‘She then started acting differently so I took her to the hospital where they admitted her into ICU, placed [her in] a medically induced [coma], [put her] on a ventilator, and [told] me that her organs started failing,’ he wrote.
Danny said doctors told him Lexi could have died if he had waited to get her treatment
He didn’t explain what had caused Lexi’s organ failure, but he recalled how doctors told him she might not have made it if he had waited to take her to the hospital.
Danny shared a photo of her lying in a hospital bed, connected to tubes and wires, saying is she is ‘currently [on] dialysis, can’t walk, and working on recovery.’
Dialysis is a treatment for kidney failure that that removes waste and excess water from the blood.
According to the Journal of Renal Nutrition, rapid weight loss and weight gain can both contribute to kidney failure – although it has not been confirmed whether Lexi’s condition was caused by her weight loss.
‘Thank you all for your prayers,’ Danny concluded his heartfelt post.
‘They all mean so much to us and this will be a long hard battle part of her story, but she is strong!’
Danny explained on Lexi’s Instagram Stories that he was posting on her behalf because she doesn’t have her phone
Danny said they do not have health insurance and are considering setting up a GoFundMe page to cover Lexi’s medical expenses. He did not say what had caused her organ failure
Lexi and Danny shot to fame in 2016 after their weight loss story went viral
Danny said they do not have health insurance and are considering setting up a GoFundMe page to cover her medical expenses.
He also took to Instagram Stories to share a photo and video of Lexi showing the bruises on her arm.
‘They said if she waited another day to take her, she could have died,’ he wrote, explaining that he was posting on her behalf because she doesn’t have her phone.
‘Her getting back to health has been our top priority,’ he added.
Lexi and Danny shot to fame in 2016 after their weight loss story went viral.
Lexi went from 485 pounds to 173 pounds in two years after overhauling her diet and starting a gym routine
Lexi’s extreme weight loss left her with excess skin on her stomach, arms, and legs
In 2018, she underwent a nine-hour surgery to remove seven pounds of excess skin from her body with the intention of having more removed in the future
The couple, who said ‘I do’ in 2015, weighed a combined 765 pounds and gorged on a total of 8,000 calories a day before making a New Year’s resolution to lose weight.
They traded fast food for home-cooked meals and started going to the gym five to six times a week. In two years, Lexi went from 485 pounds to 173 pounds, while Danny dropped 95 pounds from his 208-pound frame.
‘We didn’t have a meal plan, surgery, personal trainer, but what we did have was each other and the motivation within to work hard every single day,’ she wrote in an inspiring Instagram post in 2017.
Lexi noted that they had no idea that six months into their resolution they would become a ‘completely different couple.’
‘We may have lost the weight but we have grown closer together. Pound by pound, step by step, day by day — we have transformed our lives and molded our bodies into the people we’ve always wanted to be,’ she shared.
Lexi (pictured in November) has been chronicling the ups and downs of her weight loss journey on her Instagram page over the past eight years
Lexi (pictured with Danny in February 2021) shared that she had gained some of the weight she lost back during the COVID-19 pandemic
‘I’m still happy to be alive after fearing I’d miss 30 and I’ll never go back to where I was,’ she said of her weight gain
Lexi ended the post with a tribute to her husband, explaining that Danny has always loved and supported her no matter what her weight.
In 2018, she underwent a nine-hour surgery to remove seven pounds of excess skin from her body with the intention of having more removed in the future.
For the past eight years, Lexi has been chronicling the ups and downs of her weight loss journey on her Instagram page, which has been a source of inspiration for millions.
In September, she shared side-by-side photos of herself at her heaviest and now, explaining she gained back some of the weight she had lost during the COVID-19 pandemic.
‘I’m still happy to be alive after fearing I’d miss 30 and I’ll never go back to where I was,’ she wrote. ‘Start today!’
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