Family lunches are supposed to end with sticky fingers and sleepy kids in the back seat, not an emergency call that rewrites a life. For 41-year-old dad of two Lewis Rimmer, a quick errand after a meal with his wife and daughters turned into a split second that cost him his foot and shattered any sense of normal. What happened on that short walk is the kind of everyday horror that shows just how fragile the line is between routine and catastrophe.
Instead of heading home to plan the rest of the day, his family suddenly found themselves racing to hospital, trying to understand how a simple decision to step out alone could leave their husband and father facing months of surgery, rehab and uncertainty. The crash did not just take a limb, it ripped through the family’s finances, childcare, and sense of safety in their own neighborhood.
The split second that changed everything
Lewis Rimmer had just left a casual lunch with his wife and their two young daughters when he decided to walk off on his own for a few minutes. He was heading out to buy a lottery ticket, the sort of small, hopeful ritual that fits neatly into a Saturday afternoon. On that short trip, he was hit by a car with such force that his injuries were immediately life changing, and doctors later had to remove one of his feet to save his life.
His wife, Sarah Rimmer, has described how ordinary the day felt right up until the moment everything went wrong, with the family still thinking about the upcoming birthday of their eldest daughter rather than hospitals and operations. Instead of picking up a small win on a scratch card, Lewis ended up in intensive care, his body battered and his future suddenly full of question marks about work, mobility and how he would show up for his kids.
A young family’s new reality
In the days after the crash, the focus shifted from shock to survival. Lewis, who is 41, faced multiple surgeries and the brutal reality that he would not simply bounce back to his old life. The loss of his foot meant learning to move again, to manage pain, and to accept that even basic tasks would now need planning and support. For a father who had been active and hands-on, that adjustment is as much emotional as it is physical.
For Sarah, the impact landed in layers. She is now juggling hospital visits, caring for their daughters, and trying to keep the household afloat while processing the trauma of almost losing her husband. Friends and relatives have rallied around the North West family, but the long-term picture is daunting: months of rehabilitation, potential adaptations to their home, and the financial hit of time off work and specialist equipment that standard insurance rarely covers in full.
“A long road ahead” for recovery and resilience
Doctors have been clear that Lewis is at the start of what his wife has called “a long road ahead.” Losing a limb after being hit by a car is not a story that wraps up neatly once the bandages come off. It means physiotherapy sessions that stretch for months, learning to use a prosthetic, and dealing with the mental health fallout that often follows sudden trauma. For a father of two who was simply walking away from lunch with his family, the scale of that journey is hard to overstate.
Supporters have highlighted how quickly an everyday walk can turn into a life-altering event, pointing to the way this father of 2 went from a family meal to emergency surgery in a matter of minutes. Coverage of the crash has stressed that he was hit by a car and lost his foot moments after lunch with his family, a detail that underlines just how little time there was between normal life and disaster. As NEED KNOW updates have made clear, Lewis Rimmer and his family are now focused on the basics: getting him stable, keeping their daughters’ routines intact, and slowly piecing together a future that looks very different from the one they imagined before that short walk for a lottery ticket.
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