4 days ago
South Carolina sanitation worker lost both his legs in freak accident...then his home caught fire with him inside
A South Carolina sanitation worker who lost both his legs just two years ago in a freak accident got trapped in his home during a disastrous fire.
Matthew Lex, 21, was inside his home in Aiken - about an hour outside of Columbia - on Friday when it suddenly went up in flames.
With the inferno burning quickly, Lex - who lost both his limbs after a 92-year-old man crashed a minivan into him while he worked on the back of a sanitation truck in April 2023 - thought fast to get himself to safety.
'I started hearing pops. I kid you not, sounds like gunshots pop, bang, pop,' he told WJBF.
'I threw my legs off. I took [it] because my leg was half off. I threw this leg up and I bolted for the back door.'
By the time he escaped the burning home, Lex said it sounded like a 'train locomotive exploded' after a 'battery popped.'
The blaze initially started as a car fire before it rapidly spread to his family's home, according to a GoFundMe page.
While he made his way out of the burning structure, Lex's neighbor Charlie Stoke Jr. ran out to try and help him. It is unclear if anyone else was in the home at the time.
'He was here going down the hill,' Stoke said. 'And we just basically told him he didn't need to go any further, that we would get him, you know, where he needs to be as far as safety and everything.'
Thankfully, nobody was injured in the fire, but Lex's medical equipment that he's had to rely on for two years was destroyed.
A lot of sentimental family items were also left charred, Cheryl Welsh, Lex's mother, told the outlet.
'You can see the damage, and this is a picture of our family in Myrtle Beach when my husband and I melted,' Welsh said.
'And you can see it's melted. So, a lot of memories, a lot of pain in this room because we came here and we watched a lot of movies and spent quality time together. So, this is a very surreal situation. It's painful.'
Not only has his family been startled by the fire, but, according to Lex, they are also frustrated with how long it took for emergency personnel to respond to the scene.
He said the 911 dispatcher was confused on the phone and it took about 40 minutes for any help to arrive, per the outlet.
'I always have had a concern because even when Matthew was injured in his accident, I'm concerned about Aiken and their timeliness of some [of] these [things],' Welsh stated.
For now, Lex and his family are staying with relatives, but because of his limited mobility and wheelchair usage, it has been hard to navigate.
The donation page was created by a close friend looking to raise money to get the family back on their feet.
'The Welsh family had recently invested in extensive home renovations to accommodate Matthew's needs after he lost both of his legs. All of that—along with his essential medical equipment—has been completely lost in the fire,' the page read.
The page, which has raised more than $6,100 as of Wednesday morning, also shared a heartbreaking image of the charred home after the fire.
'We've been through a lot — pinned between a Dodge Caravan, the garbage truck, escaping a burning house. You gotta be brave,' Lex said.
Lex, who was 19 at the time of the car accident, has had to endure 11 surgeries and 27 blood transfusions since then.
After he was pinned in between the van and his truck, he sat in his hospital bed full of fear and hope.
'They had to end up amputating his leg,' Welsh told WJBF at the time. 'His left leg has a high leg amputation to the thigh. Then he has a below mid-calf amputation as well.'
At the time, Lex was working the compactor on the back of the truck when the van all of a sudden slammed into him.
'I remember feeling light and going in different felt like different dimensions doing that. And I've conquered. I said no, I'm not going to die. I'm not going to let myself leave because I've got too many people. I just don't want to leave this Earth right now, and God's not ready for me to leave,' he said.
A separate GoFundMe was created at the time to help his family cover the costs of his medical bills.
