Apple should have to address this but backups are ALWAYS the solution.

If he only saved on his hard drive and lost access we’d say it.

If he only saved on an external drive and lost access we’d say it.

If he only saved on a thumb drive and lost access we’d say it.

But for some reason he only saved on Apple’s servers and all of a sudden we aren’t supposed to say it?

No. Always make backups of important data. Always.

Hopefully Apple gives him access back but let this be another reminder to everyone to never allow for one point of failure for your irreplacable data even if it’s a big corporation.