Family's heartbreak as Dublin mum set on fire while trying to 'turn her life around'
The family of a woman who was doused in an accelerant and set on fire have told how she was trying to turn her life around when the horrific attack happened.Tragic mother-of-two Alexis Lee Campion (44) is still in hospital in an induced coma and fighting for her life after a thug connected to a drugs gang set her on fire when she answered her front door to them in Oak Downs, Clondalkin, West Dublin on November 25.This week her family spoke to the Irish Mirror about her condition in hospital – and how the innocent woman, who was not the primary target of the attack, fell in with “the wrong people” but was trying to turn things around when the tragedy occurred.“She’s a very good person that unfortunately met the wrong people in her life,” the family member said. “It’s very sad. She lost her mother in 2019 and she never fully got over that.”The devastated family members, who have not left Alexis’ bedside, also told how they have gone through so much – from the loss of her parents to her brother – who was killed when he was burned to death in a motorcycle crash in 2004.“We went through a lot of pain in this family. I get up to the hospital to see her as much as I can every day. She’s fighting two weeks on. But God doesn’t want her yet,” a family member said.“She’s a very holy person, very into the Bible and that was instilled in us since we were kids. She was planning on turning her life around and then this happened.”It can now be revealed that Alexis lost her brother Christian Lee in a horrific crash on the N11 at Ballinameesda – after escaping Shelton Abbey open prison in Arklow, Co Wicklow in June 2004.News reports from the time told how Christian Lee and Tallaght man John Cunningham (34) absconded on the stolen bike and were both killed instantly when they collided with a bus.Meanwhile Alexis’s family members told how they want the persons responsible for attacking her to be brought to justice - and of the devastation her two young sons are going through at this time.“She’s a great mother, a great aunty. Her two sons are heartbroken. The day before this happened there were people at her house with knives. How can anybody do that to anybody?“We want justice. These people shouldn’t be walking the streets that do that to women or anyone. At the moment we are on the phone to guards and nobody has been arrested, nobody has been brought in for questioning. Anyone that has information to come forward,” they said.But for now they said she is just fighting to survive - and if she does, will need a lot of help and support in the future.“She is up there fighting like mad for her life. We don’t want her waking up to pain. She will be in a colossal amount of pain when she wakes up from this and she won’t recognise herself either. It’s not right,” a family member said.“At first I was told she was dead – I just feel heartbroken even thinking about it. I just can’t understand how anyone could hurt such a young girl. She’s so tiny and you wouldn’t even have to do anything like that to her.”It comes as the family told us earlier in the week how the attack has left Alexis’s face totally unrecognisable, most of her body covered in bandages, and her placed in an induced coma.Speaking to this paper one family member, who is among many at Alexis’s hospital bedside, described what has happened to her as “a very dangerous and evil thing,” as they told of the extent of her injuries.“She was such a beautiful looking girl and her whole life now is just in tatters. She’s not ever going to be the same,” they said.“She’s still critical and they are telling us every day that she’s prone to infections, she’s going to have multiple skin grafts, she’s 35 per cent burns, nearly third degree burns, and they’ve gone through the skin.“She just got it very bad - her face, her neck, her chest, her arm, her feet, the back of her feet. A lot of damage has been done to her,” they explained.They went on to say that they have no idea if she will ever be able to see, let alone walk again - should she survive.“She’s in a medically-induced coma; she’s been waking up and they’ve been putting her back to sleep because they don’t want her in pain and they want the burns to heal.”Two weeks ago this paper revealed that the victim’s partner – who we named as convicted burglar Francis Maguire (49), is believed to have been the primary target of a disgruntled drugs gang operating in the area.The gang who attacked his girlfriend also attempted to douse Maguire - who is understood to have ducked most of the accelerant. Maguire desperately tried to save his partner’s life by using his hands to try and put out the fire – injuring himself.Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news from the Irish Mirror direct to your inbox: Sign up here.
