A teenager has vowed never to vape again after being put on life support due to lung damage and pneumonia, which she says was down to e-cigarettes. Take a listen to her story below:
Juliet Roberts, from Mount Pleasant, Tennessee, started vaping when she was just 14, and it wasn't long before she became 'addicted', going through a disposable e-cigarette every two weeks.
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Over four years later, on 7 January, her habit took it's toll and the 18-year-old was left fighting for her life when she was hospitalised after struggling to breathe.
Speaking about the terrifying ordeal, Juliet says doctors told her that her constant vaping had damaged her lungs.
The teen says she had also suffered a bad reaction to a 'fake' vape containing a 'toxic chemical', which caused her to develop pneumonia.
Speaking about her illness, Juliet, who is now at home recovering, said: "I woke up feeling like I had a cold and just really didn't feel good and as the days progressed I started feeling worse.
"Three days later, I was sitting in my room and I went to stand up and I fell back down because I couldn't breathe, I thought I was going to pass out.
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"I called my boyfriend and told him I needed to go to the emergency room because I could tell something was wrong."
After being rushed to the hospital, she underwent a series of tests, and doctors told her that if she had waited another day, she would have died.
"They told me I was basically dying, I'm so glad I went to the hospital when I did," Juliet recalled.
X-rays showed that vaping had damaged her lungs and the infection made her lungs appear white rather than the typical black of healthy soft tissue.
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Juliet said: "They think I maybe got hold of a fake disposable and I had a bad reaction to it because of some type of chemical that was in it and it just made my lungs want to stop working.
"They said obviously with how consistent I was with vaping it made the condition worse as well."
Of the 12 days she was in hospital, Juliet spent five of them on life support.
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Doctors told her that it was a 'miracle' she recovered so quickly.
But despite having been discharged from hospital, she remains on oxygen around the clock, and has a long way to go until she is fully recovered, with doctors telling her it could be a year until she's back at work.
And Juliet says she won't be vaping ever again.
Juliet said: "I haven't hit one since the day I went to the hospital and I don't plan on doing it ever again.
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"The doctor told me that it would end my life and that's all the information I need to quit for good.
"I just want people to know that it's really not worth it. I want it to be known that it is as dangerous as people say it is and it's a lot more common than people think it is."
Featured Image Credit: Kennedy News and MediaTopics: Health, Science, US News