ED SHEERAN hailed him “a better singer and songwriter than I was at that age”.

That is the standard Hampshire teenager Lewis Smith is trying to live up to after launching his first EP in Southampton.

Yet three years ago this event would have been unimaginable, as Lewis faced a life-threatening illness.

Doctors discovered a sinus infection between his skull and his brain and he was rushed from Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth to Southampton General, where he underwent six hours of emergency surgery.

Neurosurgeons performed a craniotomy – removal of a section of skull – to allow Lewis’s brain to swell without pressurising the skull.

As part of the procedure the piece of bone cut from his skull was placed in his stomach to protect and preserve it. He then had intravenous and oral antibiotics for six weeks before having the bone in his skull replaced two months later, on his 13th birthday. Unfortunately further infections occurred and Lewis had to undergo several more operations before finally having a titanium plate successfully inserted into the gap in his skull, in September 2014.

The drama began for Lewis, who has three older sisters and lives in Droxford with parents Nicky and Danny, when he felt ill and had headaches after playing football with friends. Nicky took him to QA Hospital in Portsmouth where they thought he had mild concussion due to hitting heads with another player and sent him home. But two weeks later, on a family holiday in Cornwall, Lewis woke up with a crippling headache and a swelling across his eye. They took him to Plymouth Hospital with a temperature of 40C (104F) and again they said it was concussion.

Nicky said: “Mother’s intuition told me this wasn’t right, so we cut short the holiday and took him to the QA again where they kept him in overnight and by the morning the swelling was so bad he couldn’t open his eyes.”

They did a CT scan which revealed his brain was swelling up with a severe bacterial infection between his brain and skull.

Lewis was then rushed to Southampton Hospital, where at midnight he was sent for emergency surgery. They needed to open the skull to remove the disease and allow the brain to swell without pressurising the skull, which would have rendered him unconscious.

Nicky recalls: “We were told they had to take away part of his skull and they said we could lose him or he could be disabled in some way. We had no choice – you are handing your baby to complete strangers. It was terrible. It was like signing his death warrant. It was the toughest night of our lives. We didn’t know if we would see our boy again.

“Eventually we saw him at 7.30am and that’s when doctors said they’d taken part of his skull away and had put it in his stomach to preserve it. The piece was about the size of an orange taken from the middle just above his forehead to the top of his ear.

“After that initial operation he just smiled – which he did throughout it all. He’s such a good kid. He kept us going!”

It was to take 18 long months and several operations before Lewis recovered.

He was unable to start Year 8 at Swanmore College until the January after the bone had been replaced.

Then a week after starting back at school he got another infection so had to have the bone taken out again. After further lengthy treatment, during which he insisted on going to school with only skin covering his brain, Lewis finally had to have a titanium plate fitted – and that became infected two weeks later. Further months of antibiotics followed with a new plate fitted and Lewis finally returned to school to join Year 9 in September 2014.

The sports-mad teenager who had previously spent all his weekends playing football was no longer able to play contact sports and he looked to singing, writing songs and guitar playing as a new pastime. This quickly became his passion.

Since May 2015 Lewis has been gigging continually in the Hampshire area and this weekend he launched his debut four-track EP Raw at The Joiners in Southampton.

Nicky added: “I believe everything happens for a reason. I’m so proud of him. The Joiners gig was organised as a way of celebrating how far he’s come from the dark days. You can see he’s a born entertainer. He just brings the stage to life.”

During his recovery Nicky asked her son if he had one wish what it would be, and he said to meet and sing with Ed Sheeran. After she contacted the Starlight Children’s Foundation, without telling Lewis, as well as his surgeon to see if he’d be “worthy” they told her he was but it could take up to a couple of years to organise. But within a couple of weeks Ed Sheeran’s management got back to them and said he’d like to do it.

They said they wanted to fly Lewis to Prague to see him in concert and meet him backstage. The meeting happened and the two sang one of Ed Sheeran’s songs, Tenerife Sea, together and Lewis played him some of his own songs.

The superstar told Lewis: “That’s absolutely amazing. You’re a much better singer and songwriter than I was at your age – keep going and keep writing.”

It has been a rollercoaster ride for Lewis and his family but the youngster has taken it all in his stride.

Lewis, now aged 15, told the Daily Echo: “I haven’t really looked back. I think music has taken over the past couple of years. It was hard going through all that stuff and seeing my parents upset but music and being with my friends just took over. Instead of dwelling on not being able to do football I needed to find something else I was interested in and started guitar and singing lessons.

“Ed Sheeran said to me you will always succeed if you keep going, and that I was a better singer and writer than he was at my age. Hopefully one day I will be able to support him in concert.

“Becoming big and famous is obviously my aim but I’d like to make a living out of it and have fun and enjoy it and go on tour with big-name artists and have that experience playing on big stages.

“I was ill for 18 months and I’ve definitely grown up a lot. I’ve matured a lot. I was a young boy and I have come out of it a young adult. It’s changed my life for the better, from being a footballer to playing in a band and I’m really enjoying it and just hope it will go further.”

Find out more at lewissmithofficial.co.uk.