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Teenage vape user loses part of her lung after collapsing

 

A 17-year-old vape addict had to have part of her lung removed by doctors after her e-cig habit left her on the brink of death, her "terrified" father has revealed.

Kyla Blight was rushed to hospital by her dad Mark after she "turned blue" and collapsed during a sleepover at a friend's house - where she underwent almost six hours of surgery as medics rushed to remove a vape-induced 'air blister' which had crippled her respiratory system.

In the operating theatre, doctors discovered the blister - a pulmonary bleb, which was believed to have been caused by her exorbitant vape addiction - had burst, collapsing part of her lung.

Blight had been vaping 400 cigarettes' worth of nicotine every week by burning through numerous "4,000-puff" e-cigarettes - a habit which she had believed to be harmless since she'd started at just 15.

The 17-year-old remained in hospital for two weeks after her surgery - but now says the whole ordeal has scared her away from the disposable vapes for life.

Shockingly, this wasn't the first time the teen had endured a trip to hospital on account of her vape-induced respiratory problem; in November last year, she had been seen by doctors after her dad thought she was having a heart attack.

X-rays had uncovered the existence of the bleb and the resulting hole in her lung - but when she went back to hospital in February 2024, she was told it had healed.

But the reappearance of her lung issues prompted her father, who lives in Egremont in Cumbria, to release a harrowing account of events online, urging other young people to dispose of their devices.

Mark Blight said: "It was terrifying for me. I cried like a baby. It was horrible to watch. I've been with her the whole time.

"They rushed us into Newcastle and she had the operation on Tuesday. It was a five-and-a-half hour operation. She'd had a seizure on the operating table."

But despite his horror at the sight of his teenage daughter under the knife, Mark admitted that he too had been vaping - for 13 years, in order to kick a smoking habit.

Blight called for a ban targeting disposable vapes, which he claimed contain untested chemicals which put young people at risk.

He said doctors had told him that "there are a lot of young ones with holes in their lungs" - and that cases of youths being admitted to hospitals with vape-related problems were only on the rise.

And he warned parents of vaping kids that they may risk going through what he did, adding "it's just not worth it".

The stricken teenager said she had come across the habit when she was 15 at school - where "all her friends were doing it" - and that she had though the e-cigs were harmless.

But, she added: "Now I won't touch them. I wouldn't go near them. The situation has really scared me out of them".


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