Startling new images reveal the charred lungs of a young vape user after just three years of vaping.
LeeRay King initiated his use of disposable vapes at 14 and quickly developed a dependency that he kept hidden from his family for over a year. At the peak of his addiction, the now 17-year-old was consuming four disposable vapes weekly, using them constantly.’ However, in August last year, LeeRay woke up in the middle of the night experiencing intense pain on his left side and struggled to breathe. His mother, Kylee Jope, rushed him to the hospital, where scans uncovered a collapsed left lung.
Over the subsequent four months, LeeRay suffered four more instances of lung collapse, prompting doctors to conduct three surgeries to prevent further collapses. During the third surgery, surgeons detected and removed damaged tissue from LeeRay’s lung – a consequence Kylee attributes to his vaping history. A graphic photo displays the extracted lung tissue in a sealed plastic bag, discolored and shriveled. The family intends to bury this piece of LeeRay’s lung in their garden and aims to raise awareness about the potential health hazards linked to vaping.
LeeRay, residing near Wellington, New Zealand, shared, “I was pressured into vaping by peers. Initially, I didn’t enjoy it, but I became addicted within the first week. I heavily vaped from 14 to 16, going through about four disposable vapes weekly. I would vape incessantly. Without it, I felt like a different person. Initially, I didn’t realize the severity of the habit.”
The teenager was hospitalized after experiencing severe pain in his left side, diagnosed as a pneumothorax – a condition where air seeps into the space between the lung and the chest wall, leading to lung collapse.
Kylee, a 50-year-old cleaning supervisor, recounted, “I woke up to numerous missed calls and messages from LeeRay reporting difficulty in breathing. He complained of chest and left side pain and discomfort while breathing. “I decided to take him to the hospital, where he collapsed in the front seat of the car, crying in excruciating pain. After tests, we were informed he had a significant pneumothorax. When told that his left lung had collapsed, I broke down in tears.” LeeRay endured four additional left lung collapses in the following months, leading to a pleurodesis procedure to prevent fluid re-accumulation between the lung and chest wall.
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