A weight-loss influencer who suffered a number of organ failure and was put right into a medically-induced coma has defended herself after dealing with backlash for organising a GoFundMe to pay for her medical payments.
Lexi Reed, 31, from Indiana, shot to fame after documenting her 312-pound weight reduction and now has 1.2 million Instagram followers. Following her hospitalization, her husband, Danny, revealed they did not have medical insurance and had been contemplating crowdfunding her medical prices.
On February 12, he shared a screenshot of her GoFundMe web page — titled ‘Help Lexi Reed in her Medical Bills’ — on her Instagram. The aim of the web fundraiser is $200,000.
A variety of folks left feedback asking why an influencer with a big following would wish monetary help, assuming she has a excessive ‘internet value’ and may afford healthcare, Insider reported. The feedback on her web page have since been disabled.
Lexi Reed, 31, from Indiana, has defended herself after dealing with backlash for launching a GoFundMe to cowl her medical payments after she was hospitalized for organ failure
A variety of folks left feedback asking why an influencer with a big following would wish monetary help, assuming she has a excessive ‘internet value’
‘Folks appear to assume I am some type of millionaire simply because the web says so, however we’re removed from that,’ Lexi informed the outlet, insisting they are not wealthy as a result of she has over 1,000,000 followers.
The web site AllFamousBirthday has estimated that her internet value is $1.5 million, however she claimed that quantity is inaccurate.
‘Folks on the web are studying that I’ve all types of cash, which is insane to me, as a result of I clearly do not,’ she mentioned. ‘Our home is not even paid off and we solely drive one automobile so I am not fairly positive why individuals are so fast to imagine something lately.’
Lexi’s Instagram feed is a mixture of gymnasium selfies, motivational quotes, and before-and-after pictures of herself. She claimed she hardly ever takes model offers, which is how influencers make cash.
In keeping with Insider, solely one among her posts from the previous 12 months seems to be a paid sponsorship with a model.
Lexi shot to fame after documenting her 312-pound weight reduction and now has 1.2 million Instagram followers, however she informed Insider she is not wealthy by any means
Lexi claimed she hardly ever takes model offers, and in response to Insider, solely one among her posts from the previous 12 months seems to be a paid sponsorship with a model
Indiana doesn’t have a state regulation requiring residents to have medical insurance, and whereas Lexi admitted to the outlet that she might need been capable of afford it, she did not assume she wanted it.
She mentioned that previous to her hospitalization, she hadn’t been recognized with a situation and barely went to the physician.
Lexi, who’s in a wheelchair and present process dialysis three days per week, informed Insider that she and her husband are counting on their financial savings as a result of she will be able to’t work, saying their family earnings has dropped following her hospitalization.
The couple has acquired greater than $70,000 in donations in two weeks, which is able to go in direction of her medical payments.
Lexi mentioned medical doctors nonetheless do not know what brought about her organ failure, however they do not assume it was associated to her weight reduction. Speedy weight reduction and weight acquire can each contribute to kidney failure, in accordance to the Journal of Renal Vitamin.
Lexi was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) final month after her kidney and liver began failing and was put right into a medically-induced coma
In a sequence of candid Instagram posts that had been shared on February 10, Lexi’s husband, Danny, defined that she began getting severely sick and could not preserve any meals down
Danny defined on Lexi’s Instagram Tales that he was posting on her behalf as a result of she would not have her telephone. He additionally shared that they did not have medical insurance
The influencer was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) final month and needed to be placed on a ventilator in a medically induced coma.
Danny mentioned medical doctors informed him Lexi may have died if he had waited to get her therapy
Her husband, Danny, defined in an Instagram put up shared on her account on February 10 that she began getting severely sick and could not preserve any meals down.
‘She then began appearing otherwise so I took her to the hospital the place they admitted her into ICU, positioned [her in] a medically induced [coma], [put her] on a ventilator, and [told] me that her organs began failing,’ he wrote.
He recalled how medical doctors informed him she may not have made it if he had waited to take her to the hospital.
Danny shared a photograph of her mendacity in a hospital mattress, related to tubes and wires, saying is she is ‘at the moment [on] dialysis, cannot stroll, and dealing on restoration.’ Dialysis is a therapy for kidney failure that removes waste and extra water from the blood.
Lexi, who’s in a wheelchair and present process dialysis, revealed she was house on February 12, the identical day Danny launched her GoFundMe web page
In Lexi’s most up-to-date put up, she shared a snapshot of her wholesome dinner whereas giving followers one other replace. Medical doctors nonetheless aren’t positive what brought about her organ failure, however they do not imagine it was her weight reduction
Lexi mentioned they’re residing off her financial savings as a result of she will be able to’t work. The couple’s GoFundMe has raised $70,000 in simply two weeks
‘Thanks all in your prayers,’ Danny concluded his heartfelt put up. ‘All of them imply a lot to us and this shall be a protracted onerous battle a part of her story, however she is powerful!’
He additionally took to Instagram Tales to share a photograph and video of Lexi exhibiting the bruises on her arm.
‘They mentioned if she waited one other day to take her, she may have died,’ he wrote, explaining that he was posting on her behalf as a result of she would not have her telephone.
‘Her getting again to well being has been our prime precedence,’ he added.
A couple of days later, Lexi gave her followers an replace on her well being, revealing she had lastly left the hospital to get well at house after spending virtually a month within the ICU.
‘Folks on the web are studying that I’ve all types of cash, which is insane to me, as a result of I clearly do not,’ she informed Insider
Lexi and Danny shot to fame in 2016 after their weight reduction story went viral
‘I am again house and able to overcome the subsequent a part of this a part of my story,’ she wrote on Instagram on February 12, the identical day her GoFundMe was launched.
‘Blissful to be alive when it wasn’t seeming to be not attainable and I used to be unresponsive within the trauma room. Thanks to everybody for the love.’
In one other put up, Lexi mentioned it took ‘4 relations’ to assist get her from the automobile into her home.
‘Not my greatest 6 AM picture however a part of my day by day ritual – dialysis,’ she captioned a selfie on February 14 that confirmed tubes hooked as much as her physique.
‘I’ve to go thrice per week for 4 hours the place they hook me as much as a machine and take away waste and extra fluids as my kidneys aren’t working,’ she defined.
Lexi went from 485 kilos to 173 kilos in two years after overhauling her eating regimen and beginning a gymnasium routine
Lexi’s excessive weight reduction left her with extra pores and skin on her abdomen, arms, and legs
‘I might not be specializing in weight reduction as a lot on right here proper now (I am maintaining a healthy diet in mattress and aiming for extra protein) however I’m working to heal and I needed to share components with you guys on this new journey as I used to be by no means hospitalized or something earlier than all of this,’ she added. ‘Data is energy! Love you all!’
On Tuesday, she posted a snapshot of her wholesome dinner — blackened salmon, veggies, dip, and cottage cheese — whereas giving her followers one other replace.
She defined that she had her first physician’s appointment since leaving the hospital, however she was ‘nonetheless ready to get extra solutions.’
Lexi additionally apologized for being ‘MIA’ and never posting as a lot content material, explaining that she spends ‘most of [her] time resting.’
‘Nonetheless simply know I respect your entire prayers and help throughout all of this and I can not wait to simply really feel regular once more and present you the comeback is all the time higher than the set again,’ she wrote. ‘Simply preserve reminding myself it should finally get higher even when I am unsure when simply that it has too.’
In 2018, she underwent a nine-hour surgical procedure to take away seven kilos of extra pores and skin from her physique with the intention of getting extra eliminated sooner or later
Lexi (pictured in November) has been chronicling the ups and downs of her weight reduction journey on her Instagram web page over the previous eight years
Lexi and Danny discovered on-line fame in 2016 after their weight reduction story went viral.
The couple, who mentioned ‘I do’ in 2015, weighed a mixed 765 kilos and gorged on a complete of 8,000 energy a day earlier than making a New 12 months’s decision to drop some weight.
They traded quick meals for home-cooked meals and began going to the gymnasium 5 to 6 occasions per week. In two years, Lexi went from 485 kilos to 173 kilos, whereas Danny dropped 95 kilos from his 208-pound body.
‘We did not have a meal plan, surgical procedure, private coach, however what we did have was one another and the motivation inside to work onerous each single day,’ she wrote in an inspiring Instagram put up in 2017.
Lexi famous that that they had no concept that six months into their decision they might develop into a ‘fully totally different couple.’
Lexi (pictured with Danny in February 2021) shared that she had gained a number of the weight she misplaced again throughout the COVID-19 pandemic
‘I am nonetheless blissful to be alive after fearing I might miss 30 and I am going to by no means return to the place I used to be,’ she mentioned of her weight acquire
‘We could have misplaced the burden however now we have grown nearer collectively. Pound by pound, step-by-step, day-to-day — now we have reworked our lives and molded our our bodies into the folks we have all the time needed to be,’ she shared.
Lexi ended the put up with a tribute to her husband, explaining that Danny has all the time beloved and supported her it doesn’t matter what her weight.
In 2018, she underwent a nine-hour surgical procedure to take away seven kilos of extra pores and skin from her physique with the intention of getting extra eliminated sooner or later.
For the previous eight years, Lexi has been chronicling the ups and downs of her weight reduction journey on her Instagram web page, which has been a supply of inspiration for hundreds of thousands.
In September, she shared side-by-side pictures of herself at her heaviest and now, explaining she gained again a number of the weight she had misplaced throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
‘I am nonetheless blissful to be alive after fearing I might miss 30 and I am going to by no means return to the place I used to be,’ she wrote. ‘Begin at this time!’
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