12-year-old girl suffers lung collapse and spends four days in a coma after excessively vaping
Niamh Shackleton
Featured Image Credit: Northern Ireland Chest Heart & Stroke
A 12-year-old girl has issued a stark warning to other vapers after the habit left her fighting for her life.
Sarah Griffin, from Belfast, Northern Ireland, was rushed to hospital after suffering with breathing difficulties.
She already suffered with asthma but vaping is believed to have exacerbated her condition, which led to her lung collapsing.
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A survey in the UK found that, as of this year, a concerning 15 percent of 11 to 15-year-olds had tried vaping.
Meanwhile, in the US, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in 2022 that more than 2.5 million middle and high school students reported using e-cigarettes.
And now Sarah has urged others to put the vape down in light of her health struggles.
The 12-year-old started vaping at the age of nine and, while her mother knew about her habit, she'd struggled to deter Sarah from doing it.
At one stage, Sarah was getting through a 4,000-puff vape in just a matter of days - with a typical regulation vape in the UK containing 600 puffs.
And since she'd struggled to use her preventative inhaler, she was left more at risk.
In September, she was rushed to hospital where her oxygen levels were found to be 'very low'.
Following a scan, it was found that one her lungs was 'badly injured' and that she had an infection so ‘everything combined had a massive impact on her body, extremely quickly,' her mom Mary said.
After working on Sarah for four-and-a-half hours, the youngster was rushed to intensive care and put into an induced coma.
During this scary time, Mary thought that her daughter was going to die.
"There is absolutely no words to describe when you think your child is going to die," she told BBC News.
Luckily, after four days, Sarah was taken out of her coma and sent home to recover but has been left with permanent damage to her lungs.
And she is now warning others to not start the addictive habit.
"Don't start doing it, because once you start doing it, you don't stop doing it," she said.
"You only stop when you basically have to, when it's a life or death situation."
While Sarah is on the road to recovery, another young person from North Carolina wasn't as lucky.
Earlier this year, 15-year-old Solomon Wynn was taken off a ventilator in hospital after devolving a 'bad cough' a few months prior.
Doctors prescribed Wynn with antibiotics, steroids and inhalers, but when his condition failed to get better he was referred to a pulmonologist.
Allergy testing and X-rays determined Wynn had been vaping, and the teen quickly admitted that his friends had 'showed him how to do it'.
A CAT scan then showed that there was fluid in three places on his lungs and surrounding his heart and he tragically died just days after his 15th birthday.