It was a “touch and go” experience for a 21-year-old U.K. man who spent two weeks in a coma after his lungs collapsed and he began throwing up blood from continuous vaping at work. After the harrowing experience, with only one functioning lung and doctors warning that continuing to vape would mean he would not live past 40, the young father cautions: ‘Vaping is not worth your life.’
James Johnson, a bouncer from Blackpool, England, had a habit of continuously puffing on his vape while working at a nightclub. This routine took a dangerous turn last May when he suddenly began vomiting blood and was rushed to intensive care. Diagnosed with bilateral pneumonia caused by chemicals from his vapes entering his lungs, Johnson fell into a coma and was left hospitalized for three months.
“They kept telling my partner that it was touch and go. It was very mentally straining in hospital but the first couple of weeks, I didn’t know I was there. 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,” Johnson recollected.
Johnson was lucky to survive the pneumonia thanks to his young age, but it took months for him to recover and reach his current state. “A lot of people can live with one lung, but it’s about how I make different life choices. You don’t realize the dangers until something big happens. I’m lucky to be back and independent,” Johnson said.
Despite his recovery, doctors have warned him against smoking, vaping, or anything that could further harm his lungs.
“If I go back to vaping or smoking or I don’t look after my body, then I won’t make it past 40. To be honest, I’m glad I found out now because it could have happened in 10 or 20 years and my body wouldn’t have been fit enough to survive it,” Johnson said.
Johnson now works as a youth support worker, raising awareness about the dangers of vaping among people who do not realize the extend of complications: “Having a vape is not worth your life. 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. I was only 20 years old and I nearly lost my life,” he warns.
