Lexi Reed, a fitness influencer, is beginning the road to recovery after being placed on a ventilator during an unnamed illness.
The influencer, 31, gained Instagram fame in 2016 as she documented an intense weight-loss journey. She lost 312 pounds, alongside her husband Danny Reed, who lost 95 pounds.
Now, though, she is hospitalized and unable to walk, according to a post by her husband.
“A few weeks ago Lexi kept getting sick and couldn’t keep any food down,” Reed wrote on his wife’s Instagram account. “She then started acting differently so I took her to the hospital where they admitted her into ICU, placed on a medically induced coma, on a ventilator, and (told) me that her organs started failing.”
Reed wrote that he was told that it was “possible she could have died” if she had not been brought to the hospital.
According to his update, his wife is no longer on a ventilator but is “currently in dialysis, can’t walk, and (is) working on recovery.”
Danny and Lexi Reed did not immediately respond to requests for comment from TODAY.
On Instagram, Reed noted that the couple does not have insurance, but thanked fans and followers for their “prayers” and positive messages.
“They all mean so much to us and this will be a long hard battle part of her story but she is strong!” Reed wrote.
The Reeds told TODAY in an earlier interview that they decided to lose weight as a couple in January 2016. Lexi weighed 485 pounds when they wed in 2015, and realized during a honeymoon hike that her weight was impacting the activities they could do as a couple.
They told TODAY that they made changes to their diets and exercise to meet their goals. Three years into their resolution, Lexi lost more than 300 pounds, while Danny, who started at 281 pounds, lost a little less than 100.
In 2018 and 2019, Lexi also had several pounds of excess skin removed in surgical procedures.
“I felt all the emotions. For once in my life I could see my toes. For once in my life I could see my belly button. I didn’t even recognize myself in the mirror,” she told TODAY after one procedure in 2019.
A version of this story was originally published on TODAY.com.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
