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 establishing 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 didn’t have medical health insurance and have 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 purpose of the net fundraiser is $200,000.
Plenty of folks left feedback asking why an influencer with a big following would wish monetary assist, assuming she has a excessive ‘web 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
Plenty of folks left feedback asking why an influencer with a big following would wish monetary assist, assuming she has a excessive ‘web value’
‘Folks appear to assume I’m some type of millionaire simply because the web says so, however we’re removed from that,’ Lexi instructed the outlet, insisting they’re not wealthy as a result of she has over one million followers.
The web site AllFamousBirthday has estimated that her web 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 don’t,’ she mentioned. ‘Our home isn’t even paid off and we solely drive one car so I’m not fairly certain why individuals are so fast to imagine something lately.’
Lexi’s Instagram feed is a mixture of health club selfies, motivational quotes, and before-and-after images of herself. She claimed she hardly ever takes model offers, which is how influencers earn cash.
In accordance with Insider, solely one in all 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 instructed Insider she isn’t wealthy by any means
Lexi claimed she hardly ever takes model offers, and in accordance with Insider, solely one in all 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 health insurance, and whereas Lexi admitted to the outlet that she might need been capable of afford it, she didn’t 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, instructed Insider that she and her husband are counting on their financial savings as a result of she will’t work, saying their family earnings has dropped following her hospitalization.
The couple has obtained greater than $70,000 in donations in two weeks, which is able to go in direction of her medical payments.
Lexi mentioned docs nonetheless don’t know what brought on her organ failure, however they don’t 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 collection of candid Instagram posts that have been shared on February 10, Lexi’s husband, Danny, defined that she began getting severely sick and couldn’t maintain any meals down
Danny defined on Lexi’s Instagram Tales that he was posting on her behalf as a result of she doesn’t have her telephone. He additionally shared that they didn’t have medical health 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 docs instructed him Lexi may have died if he had waited to get her therapy
Her husband, Danny, defined in an Instagram publish shared on her account on February 10 that she began getting severely sick and couldn’t maintain any meals down.
‘She then began performing in a different way 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 docs instructed him she won’t 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 present [on] dialysis, can’t 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 dwelling on February 12, the identical day Danny launched her GoFundMe web page
In Lexi’s most up-to-date publish, she shared a snapshot of her wholesome dinner whereas giving followers one other replace. Docs nonetheless aren’t certain what brought on her organ failure, however they don’t imagine it was her weight reduction
Lexi mentioned they’re residing off her financial savings as a result of she will’t work. The couple’s GoFundMe has raised $70,000 in simply two weeks
‘Thanks all to your prayers,’ Danny concluded his heartfelt publish. ‘All of them imply a lot to us and this will likely 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 doesn’t have her telephone.
‘Her getting again to well being has been our high 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 recuperate at dwelling 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 don’t,’ she instructed Insider
Lexi and Danny shot to fame in 2016 after their weight reduction story went viral
‘I’m again dwelling 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.
‘Completely satisfied to be alive when it wasn’t seeming to be not potential and I used to be unresponsive within the trauma room. Thanks to everybody for the love.’
In one other publish, Lexi mentioned it took ‘4 relations’ to assist get her from the automotive 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 3 times 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 weight loss plan and beginning a health club routine
Lexi’s excessive weight reduction left her with extra pores and skin on her abdomen, arms, and legs
‘I will not be specializing in weight reduction as a lot on right here proper now (I’m 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 recognize all your prayers and assist throughout all of this and I can’t wait to only really feel regular once more and present you the comeback is all the time larger than the set again,’ she wrote. ‘Simply maintain reminding myself it’s going to finally get higher even when I’m undecided 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 Yr’s decision to drop pounds.
They traded quick meals for home-cooked meals and began going to the health club 5 to 6 instances per week. In two years, Lexi went from 485 kilos to 173 kilos, whereas Danny dropped 95 kilos from his 208-pound body.
‘We didn’t 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 publish in 2017.
Lexi famous that that they had no concept that six months into their decision they might turn out to be a ‘fully completely 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’m nonetheless completely satisfied to be alive after fearing I’d miss 30 and I’ll by no means return to the place I used to be,’ she mentioned of her weight acquire
‘We could have misplaced the burden however we’ve grown nearer collectively. Pound by pound, step-by-step, day-to-day — we’ve reworked our lives and molded our our bodies into the folks we’ve all the time needed to be,’ she shared.
Lexi ended the publish with a tribute to her husband, explaining that Danny has all the time cherished 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 images 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’m nonetheless completely satisfied to be alive after fearing I’d miss 30 and I’ll by no means return to the place I used to be,’ she wrote. ‘Begin in the present day!’