A British father who vaped continuously for 18 months has been warned he won’t live past 40 if he continues vaping after a common habit led him to a coma. This alarming incident is a stark reminder of the hidden dangers associated with vaping, especially for parents and their children. As parents, it’s crucial to understand the risks and take proactive steps to ensure the health and safety of our families.
Vapes were once touted as ‘the thing’ to help people quit smoking cigarettes, but they’ve quickly become mainstream with young adults and teenagers amongst the biggest consumers.
They’ve become such a problem, Australia has handed down some of the toughest laws in the world for vaping. The ubiquitous device seems like a less dangerous option to inhaling tobacco and whatever they put in filters, but it’s sending people to hospital, and some don’t make it out.
Young Father’s Brush With Death
Vaping to Kill Time
James, a dedicated father and husband, never imagined that his vaping habit could have such dire consequences. A nightclub bouncer, James was told by doctors he wouldn’t make it to his 40th birthday if he kept vaping.
Just 18 months ago, he started vaping as ‘something to do’ and would constantly puff away on his vape during his shifts. His puffs were so frequent, that one vape would only last him two days.
The dad to a seven-month-old daughter said:
“I would work 17-hour days and would constantly be awake, so I would vape a lot.”
Even though he was warned by friends of the dangers of vaping, he ‘fobbed them off’ thinking nothing would ever happen to him. He believes if this had happened another ten or twenty years from now, he might not have recovered.
“There’s not many people who survive pneumonia but, luckily, I was young and I was able to pull through,” he said.
Twenty-Year-Old Told He Won’t Make It To 40 if he kept vaping
One night, Johnson started coughing up blood and was rushed to intensive care. The next thing he knew, he was waking from a coma.
Doctors were baffled at first, but after running several tests, they determined that his vaping habit had led to severe lung damage and a critical condition that placed him in a coma. James’s family was devastated, and his children were left wondering if their dad would ever wake up. Thankfully, James did regain consciousness, but his road to recovery is long and uncertain.
He was diagnosed with bilateral pneumonia which was caused by the chemicals from the vape had filled his lungs with pus. With only one lung working, Johnson was warned he would not make it to 40 if he continued vaping.
“It was too late to save it, really. I am still lucky to be here,” he said.
He didn’t know where he was during the rough, mentally straining first few weeks of recovery. He didn’t recognise his partner, Charlotte, or his daughter, Harper.
“I couldn’t walk for the first couple of weeks, and it was even worse because I was awake and couldn’t talk, walk or eat.”
The Medical Perspective
Doctors have now warned James that if he doesn’t quit vaping immediately, he may not live past 40. This dire prognosis highlights the serious health risks associated with vaping, which are often underestimated or overlooked. According to medical experts, vaping can lead to severe respiratory issues, cardiovascular problems, and an increased risk of addiction. The chemicals in e-cigarettes can cause inflammation and damage to lung tissue, which can be life-threatening over time.
“A lot of people can live with one lung, but it’s about how I make different life choices,” he said. “If I go back to vaping or smoking or I don’t look after my body, then I won’t make it past 40.”
The young dad, who also works on a building site, now warns people to be careful about what they put in their bodies.
“Read up about what you are smoking before you smoke it. Don’t think that because of your age, that it won’t happen to you,” he says.
Johnson hasn’t let this experience take away his zest for life. Once he is fully healed, he plans to compete in a charity boxing match to raise money for cancer research. He will start intensive training in a couple of weeks to prepare for the event eight weeks later.
He figures, “‘Why not give it a go?” even though he’s never done anything like this before.
This whole experience has been a big life lesson for the Blackpool lad.
“I feel like if I do everything right and look after my body in the right way, then I should be okay.”
With different flavours and styles, vaping is appealing to young people, vaping is quickly becoming as addictive, if not more addictive than smoking. They are a dangerous health risk. Research is always being done on the dangers of things and research into vaping has proven how harmful they can be to the human body.
James learned a hard lesson that will affect him for the rest of his life, and he urges everyone to read the ingredients in vapes before they smoke them.
