Brave burns boy labelled 'Scarface' by bullies is winning 13-year battle to get a new face | Mail Online

• Lewissuffered horrific burns when he was just four-and-a-half months old
• Brave boy labelled 'Scarface' and 'Alien' by school bullies

Recovering: Lewis Alston was left with terrible burns after an accident when he was a baby. He has had eight operations in the U.S thanks to fundraising

A boy left with horrific burns after a freak accident as a baby is winning his 13-year battle for a new face after enduring years of teasing over his injuries.

Lewis Alston was just four-and-a-half months old when he slid off his mother's bed and became stuck to a hot radiator while his child-minder was downstairs.

Doctors had to amputate his nose and he had burns to his face and chest, requiring reconstructive surgery on his eyes and mouth and months of skin grafts.

But at the time NHS doctors refused to rebuild his nose until he was a teenager.

Instead hundreds of well-wishersresponded to local fundraising drives to send the boy to a specialised burns unit at Shriners hospital in Boston, US.

In the meantime Lewis was mocked at school over his burns with other children running away from him and calling him: 'Alien' and 'Scarface.'

Now 14, with the last visit scheduledfor this year, Lewis' new face is an amazing contrast to the heart-rendingimages 13 years ago.

His cause is also to be boosted with an extra£47,000 raised by a man who has been organising charity events for him since 1998.

Lewis' mother Rachel Alston, a self-employed travel agent, 35, of Morecambe, said: 'Seeing his face transform, get better and better over the years has been amazing. I can't believe how much he's changed over the years.

'He's had about 15 operations but he's always had such an amazing attitude. When he was a baby in the pramI kept him facing me because people were always staring in and asking what had happened.

'Children have run away calling him an alien and some people have been mean at high school. He's come home telling me some boys were calling him Scarface and I told him to say,"Say hello to my little friend"and laugh it off.

'But we've laughed together when someone is staring in the street and they run into something. He's such acharacter and deals with it all so well. I'm very proud of him.'

Lewis was just four and a half months old at the time of the accident. His mother had been out at work and left him with a friend.

But while the child minder was downstairs, Lewis rolled past the pillows meant to keep him in place on her bed and slid off, getting stuck against the radiator.

Rachel said: 'My friend called me in hysterics and when I arrived the paramedics were already seeing to him. His face was really bloated and he was screaming. It was so hard to deal with. I nearly fainted. I remember it now like it was yesterday. I just took a step back when I saw it. I felt like I couldn't do anything. I was in shock.'

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