WHEN LeeRay King was first introduced to vaping as a 14-year-old, he didn’t really like it.
But within a week of putting the e-cigarette to his lips the now 17-year-old from Wellington, New Zealand, was “hooked” – and three years later, he was in hospital having black chunks of his lung removed.
“It was because of vaping and how much I was doing it a day,” LeeRay King said, who claims he was going through about “four disposables in a week”.
“I would vape all day every day,” he said.
Everything came to a head in August last year, when LeeRay woke in the middle of the night to excruciating pain on his left side and found himself struggling to breathe.
His mum, Kylee Jope, said she woke up to “hundreds of missed calls” from her son.
“He said his chest and left side was really sore and it hurts to breathe,” the 50-year-old cleaning supervisor recalled.
“I decided to take him to hospital and he keeled over in the front seat of the car and burst into tears in excruciating pain,” she said.
Doctors scanned his lungs and discovered a pneumothorax – a condition where air leaks into the space between the lung and the chest wall, causing the lung to collapse.
LeeRay’s left lung collapsed four more times over the following four months.
Surgeons had to perform a pleurodesis, a procedure that creates a strong adhesion between the lung and the chest wall to prevent the re-accumulation of fluid.
However, when this failed, the teen then underwent another procedure to remove a lining of the chest wall – known as a pleurectomy.
They then had to perform a third surgery in which doctors removed a damaged black chunk of LeeRay’s lung.
Shocking photos show the chopped out pieces of lung in a sealed plastic packet, brown and shrivelled.
“I never realised vapes could do this,” Kylee said.
“They advertise it to help give up smoking. You’re pretty much intentionally drowning your insides.”
“Seeing my son go through that was horrifying,” she added.
The family plan on burying the piece of LeeRay’s lung in their garden – and now want to educate others about the potential health risks associated with vaping.
LeeRay added: “[What they found] made me realise I had fully damaged my lung. It was because of vaping and how much I was doing it a day.”
He is now adamant on spreading awareness of the dangers of vaping after nearly losing his life due to multiple lung collapses.
He said: “I actually went and talked to one of the primary schools near where I live. I don’t want them going through what I went through.
“It was a pain that no one at a young age should be going through. I would tell anyone don’t do it.
“I’ll never touch a vape again.”
The 4 horrifying things that can happen to your body after vaping
VAPES were once hailed as miracle devices to help adults ditch cigarettes.
But while the devices don’t carry the same risks as tobacco, experts have warned that vaping might not be so harmless after all.
Here are five ways vaping could damage young users’ bodies:
1. It could slow down brain development
Vaping nicotine can permanently affect brain development in people under the age of 25, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
It said that nicotine consumed during teenage years can harm the parts of the brain that control attention, learning, mood, and impulse control, as well as increase the risk of addiction.
2. It could lead to tooth decay
Dr Michael Heffernan, a dentist at The Wessex Dental Specialist Care, said most vapes contain dangerous chemicals that can harm your teeth and lead to decay.
Puffing on the devices could also lead to mouth dryness, creating an environment in which harmful bacteria can grow.
3. It could damage heart health
However, some of the chemicals found in vapes can be damaging to the heart, with the American Heart Association (AHA) stating that vaping is “as harmful to the body’s cardiovascular systems as cigarettes”.
4. It could cause lung disease
Vaping from a young age could leave children with breathing difficulties, with paediatric respiratory consultant Dr Mike McKean saying he’d seen reports of people developing lung disease related to vaping.
Researchers from the US also found that young people who vape are more at risk of bronchitis, inflammation of the airways, and shortness of breath.
Read more on how vaping can affect your health here
