Abandoned in an Indian orphanage and unable to walk, Gautam Lewis was dealt a difficult hand early on. But after Mother Teresa’s care, the young boy quite literally spread his wings, achieving his dream of being a pilot despite using crutches.

Now – after a career managing the likes of The Libertines, including notorious rocker Pete Doherty – Mr Lewis is paying homage to the humble woman who saved his life with a photo series called My Memories Of Mother Teresa.

He returned to Mother Teresa Shishu Bhavan orphanage where he was raised earlier this year, to spread awareness of her work, ‘using his love of photography to tell the story of her life’.

Including harrowing pictures of his past as well as snaps from modern day Calcutta, Mr Lewis hopes the exhibition will reflect ‘the chance she gave him to have a different destiny’.

His exhibition comes after Pope Francis revealed he will make Mother Teresa a saint in September, nearly twenty years after her death in 1997.

Speaking about his difficult childhood, Mr Lewis explained he was taken to the orphanage by his birth mother who was unable to cope after he contracted polio aged three.

As a direct result of his polio, he couldn’t use his legs and with walking aids not readily available, he was forced to crawl to get around.

He said: “At the time I wasn’t walking with crutches, so I used to crawl on the floor. Being on the floor everyone was always really tall, except of course for Mother Teresa.”

He lived alongside Mother Teresa at the orphanage for five years, from the age of three to seven.

Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk the polio-survivor revealed how the ‘softly-spoken’ saint would take time out of her busy schedule to visit the children in the home.

He said: “She always came to say hello to the kids, like a mother checking we were alright and to sure everyone was doing their job properly.”

Mr Lewis was eventually adopted from the orphanage by Dr Patricia Lewis, a British visitor to the centre who has PHDs in Nuclear Physics and International Law. He revealed his adopted mother, now 59, had always wanted to visit Calcutta and decided to take the plunge after finishing her studies.

Writing a letter of her intent to visit the area, officials in India readily accepted her request, believing she was a medical doctor willing to volunteer. After touring several different children’s centres with nurse friend Jane Webb, Dr Patricia saw a five-year-old Gautam.

Two years after befriending the little boy, Patricia asked to sponsor his education, he revealed. “Patricia wanted to sponsor my education. That’s when Mother Teresa said to her, ‘That’s always good but what this boy needs is not only education but a mother’s love.’”

Despite being single and just 27 years-old, the nuclear physician decided to become his guardian when he was just seven, and after a lengthy legal battle, she adopted him in 1984 in New Zealand.

He was privately educated and even attended the same school as Prince Charles, Bedales in Hampshire, where he rubbed shoulders with children of royals and celebrities.

After picking up a business degree at Southampton’s Solent University, he went into the music industry managing Libertines Pete Doherty from 2003-2006.

From a tough life in the orphanage to an even tougher job of “trying to keep Pete Doherty alive”, Mr Lewis revealed after spending three Christmases with the star in his Bethnal Green home and seeing musicians in ‘self-induced distress’ he decided to leave rock n’ roll for good.

Last month, he returned to Calcutta ‘to retrace Mother Theresa’s past and where my past crossed her path’. Visiting all the orphanages in the city, he noticed the stark contrasts between his own childhood and for today’s children in the home.

“One thing I did notice, that in 2016, they now prioritise education and health care. They’re more colourful, the kids are happier and they have a childhood.

“There’s a massive shift in how they are cared for.”

But what does he think his life would have been like if he hadn’t left? “I would have had a much harder life, I wouldn’t have had experience of travelling the world. I don’t think my life would have been as rich. I would have had a simple life but been alive.”

Gautam, who set up Freedom In The Air to help disabled people fly, added: “It’s too easy to dwell on negativity. Yes life is hard and awful but through all of that there is a lot of joy.

The Memories of Mother Teresa Kolkata exhibition is set to run from August 26 – October 1 at the Nandan Cultural Complex in Calcutta.
(Source: Express UK)