One adolescent claims that while vaping, his lungs four times collapsed. West Virginian Draven Hatfield, then 13 years old, began smoking vapes because he thought they were a “neat trend.”
He first used box mods but soon switched to disposables, puffing on one every several days. Nevertheless, things took a bad turn when he was sent to the hospital in October 2021 after experiencing cramps and chest problems.
The construction worker was diagnosed with a collapsed lung after being examined by medics, and he spent a week in the hospital. He had his fourth collapsed lung a few months later, in February 2022, and needed a Bullectomy to remove air pockets from his right lung.
Draven claims that the encounter left him scarred and was the most terrible experience of his life. The 19-year-old stated, “That made me realize how deadly vaping can be.
“They had to hurry and didn’t completely numb me when they put the chest tube in, and it was the most agonizing event of my life. From the first time it collapsed, I had PTSD.
“The doctor claimed that I must have smoked three packs of cigarettes a day for at least 30 years based on the appearance of my lungs. “I was rather angry. I worried about the future and believed that vaping was preferable to smoking. I was quite frightened. Draven started vaping after seeing others his age do so.
But he rapidly developed an addiction and was smoking two to three vapes every week. “I was refilling it at least once a day, perhaps once every two days,” he added. “I switched to disposable vapes and used one every two to three days, roughly.
I did not smoke prior to beginning to vape. For about a month and a half at a time, I vaped while smoking, and then I stopped. Draven, who was 17 at the time, recalls being horrified the first time his lung collapsed.
He remembered, “I was simply sitting there one day, and all of a sudden I really experienced chest discomfort and pains right down my side.” My pulse rate actually plummeted when I got into bed and I made a pledge to take my grandma to the hospital when it dropped below 40. It was at that point that I discovered my lung had collapsed.
“I had no clue what had occurred or what it was, and I first believed I had made a mistake. I had to wear a chest tube for about two weeks. “At that time, I didn’t relate it to the vapes. It collapsed three times until I finally hooked it to the vapes.
Now that he still has to deal with the effects of vaping, he is alerting other youngsters about its hazards. He said, “I still feel agony now.” On the side of my lung that has collapsed, I sometimes have severe pain and anxiety. But then I realize it’s simply the ache.
I’ll never smoke or use a vape device again. My specialist and lung doctor both agreed that vaping has caused the damage, thus I’m quite certain of it.
