A teen who started smoking vapes when he was just 13 has been left traumatised after his lungs collapsed four times.
Draven Hatfield took up vaping thinking it was a 'neat trend', but was horrified when doctors discovered that his lungs looked like he'd smoked three packs of cigarettes a day for more than 30 years.
The 19-year-old started using box mods before moving on to disposables around three years later, until he eventually puffed his way through one every two to three days.
But the construction company contractor suddenly felt severe chest pain and cramps down his side in October 2021, and rushed to hospital where he was told his left lung had collapsed.
Draven had spontaneous pneumothorax, or a collapsed lung, which occurs when air is trapped between a lung and the chest wall, and spent a painful week connected to a chest tube.
A week later the same happened again and it wasn't until his other lung collapsed for a third time that December that he connected it to the vapes and decided to quit.
But in February 2022, Draven's lung collapsed for the fourth time and he was forced to have a bullectomy surgery to remove air pockets from his right lung.
The teen claims he's suffered with PTSD as the health professionals rushing to his aid while inserting the chest tube didn't numb his body properly, which he described as the most painful experience of his life.
After a 'scary' ordeal, Draven has since recovered but still bears scars and experiences pain to this day, so is now keen to raise awareness of the dangers that vaping can cause.
Draven, of Harts, West Virginia, US, said: "It made me realise how dangerous vaping can be.
"The specialist said that it developed air bubbles on my lungs and they'd burst and would leak air and that would cause my lung to collapse.
"From the first time it collapsed I had PTSD because they had to rush and they didn't numb me fully when they put the chest tube in and it was the most painful experience of my life.
"The doctor said that my lungs looked like I'd smoked three packs of cigarettes a day for at least 30 years.
"I was pretty upset. I thought vaping was better than smoking and I was worried about my future. I was very scared."
Admitting he started vaping because he thought it looked cool, he said the occasional habit soon became all-consuming.
Draven said: "I started vaping because it was just a neat trend and I was young and I picked up on it.
"When I first started, I'd usually only vape on the weekends and eventually I was vaping every day all the time.
"At least once a day I was refilling it, sometimes once every two days. I moved onto the disposable vapes and probably used one disposable every two to three days.
"I didn't smoke before I started vaping. During one period I smoked while vaping for probably around a month and a half, and then I quit."
Draven's left lung collapsed for the first time in October 2021 when he was aged 17.
Draven said: "I was just sitting there one day and then out of nowhere I had really had chest pain and cramps all down my side.
"I went home and went to bed and my heart rate dropped really low and I promised my grandmother that I'd go to hospital and it was down to 40, and that's when I found out that my lung had been collapsed.
"I had no idea what it was or what happened, I thought I'd maybe pulled something wrong. I had to have a chest tube for about a week and a half.
"I didn't connect it to the vapes at that point. It took three times of it collapsing before I connected it to the vapes.
"The third time I was in the middle of hitting a vape and I felt it collapse.
"I just felt a little pop and as I'd been through it I knew what it was. I was breathing differently and then every time I swallowed I had a little pinch in my side.
"The third time I realised it was the vapes and I talked to the specialist and that's when I decided to try and quit vaping. I quit after the third time.
"The fourth time I was just sitting there one day at school and I felt it, I knew it had happened again.
"On the way to the hospital everything was looking good and when I got there they had to do surgery on me. It involved attaching the wall of my ribs, there's a chemical process of attaching, they scrape the air bubbles off my lungs."
He's now keen to raise awareness of the dangers of the vapour smoking devices.
Draven said: "I still feel pain to this day. On the collapsed side, I hurt pretty bad sometimes and I have scares, I feel like my lung will collapse again but then I realise it's just the pain.
"And my lower back hurts quite a bit often now.
"I'll never touch a vape or smoke again. I'm very positive that vaping has done the damage, my specialist and lung doctor were also positive on that.
"To quit vaping I used nicotine gum and tricked my mind, I used it and lowered the mg and eventually chewed regular gym.
"I don't think a lot of young people are aware that vaping can be this serious. I'd like more to be aware that there's implications for vaping."
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