Hampshire man Alex Lewis travelling to Ukraine to aid amputees

Alex Lewis, who lost his limbs and needed facial reconstruction after he contracted Strep A and Septicimia more than 10 years ago, will travel to Ukraine to help support amputees in the country.

The expedition, which will take six days starting Wednesday, February 15, will see the team travel around Ukraine completing workshops in and around amputee rehabilitation clinics on emerging technology which the team is bringing with them, including soft-shell sleeves and ALX sleeves.

The van which will take the team to Ukraine being loaded with supplies (credit: Dr Geoff Watson) (Image: Dr Geoff Watson)Alex, from Stockbridge, explained the workshops, saying: “Post-op we’ll be able to give an amputee an arm within 24 hours and they’d be able to use it, to understand what it feels like to hold a fork without your fingers and your hand, what it feels like to hold a pen without your hand, just getting them used to a prosthetic.”

He continued: “So, we’re taking this emergent tech over to Ukraine because we believe it’s not just about supplying equipment there needs to be a greater understanding of where are they going after their rehab journey – are they going home, are they going back to fight, are we equipping them to go back to the front line, what was there job beforehand? When the war is over what does their amputee life look like when whatever happens in the future when the war dissipates?

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“These guys will go back to their previous lives, or hopefully to as near as their previous lives as possible, so we need to understand what they want, what they want to achieve with their prosthetic, so we’ll run the workshop in and around that kind of support.”

The expedition will enter Ukraine from Poland, before travelling to Lviv and then Kyiv.

Dr Geoff Watson loading the van (Credit: Dr Geoff Watson) (Image: Dr Geoff Watson)Alex said that he is excited about the expedition, saying: “I am excited because I know what we’ve developed, the group that’s going, I know we can make a difference. And I know that some of the technologies we are offering, they would never have seen them before, so we are taking something really new, really innovative, but more importantly, it’s robust and affordable.

“And right now, that’s what they need.”

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Alex is being joined on the trip by Dr Geoff Watson, a consultant anaesthetist from Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester.

Dr Watson said: “The key to this is that it is a listening exercise. We’re going out to find out for ourselves what’s really happening there and if they’ve got absolute plans and needs, requirements that we can help with then that’s what we’re there for.”

Following the expedition, work will take place on offering more mobile solutions for amputees, allowing them to have the work they need done in their homes. Alex is also hoping to do follow-up expeditions to Ukraine.

More information about the expedition can be found on the Alex Lewis Trust website: alex-lewis.co.uk/.