Family Say Teenage Son's Lung Failure Was Caused By Vaping

The family of a teenager in a medically-induced coma in the US believe vaping is to blame for his double pneumonia.

Kevin Boclair, of Broomall, Pennsylvania, started vaping when he was at high school, quitting temporarily before resuming once more. However, around two weeks ago, the 19-year-old had a coughing fit, and within days, this had escalated to vomiting.

"He was coughing violently enough that he was throwing up. In the morning, he didn't look good. His colour was like grey. I ran him to the urgent care and they did an X-ray," his mum, Debbie, told FOX 29.

Kevin was subsequently transferred to the ICU at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where he was placed in a medically-induced coma. He was diagnosed with double pneumonia, whereby an infection causes inflammation in the alveoli of both lungs, and doctors have said he could need a double lung transplant.

Dr Mike Cirigliano, of the University of Pennsylvania, told FOX 29: "We have seen over 200 cases of serious lung injury, one death and people on ventilators.

"Anything that is vaporised, whether it be smoke, cigarettes, vaping in any way, in my opinion, it is not something you want to be doing."

Now Debbie is urging other kids not to vape.

Speaking to WPVI, she said: "I don't know how we could get parents to stop their kids. So, I'm going to tell the kids right out: 'You're smart kids. Just don't do it.'"

However, it is worth noting that while vaping isn't entirely risk-free, it is significantly less dangerous than smoking, as e-cigarettes do not produce tar or carbonmonoxide.

Research carried out by Public Health England last year found that vaping is 95 percent less harmful than smoking. The study also found that 44 percent of smokers wrongly believed vaping to be just as harmful.

In order to counteract this misunderstanding, the agency has released a film in which an experiment demonstrates the damaging impact of smoking, in contrast to vaping.

In the video, smoking expert Dr Lion Shahab and Dr Rosemary Leonard demonstrate just how much tar accumulates in the body as a result of smoking.

Vaping has also been proven to be a more effective means of quitting smoking than simply attempting to go cold turkey. Around 2.5 million people in England use e-cigarettes and figures show they have helped many to quit smoking.

Featured Image Credit: Pixabay

Topics: US News, vaping, Health

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey