There’s a common misconception that vaping is relatively safe and that it doesn’t have dire health consequences on one’s body. However, the story of Draven Hatfield, a 19-year-old vape-addicted teen from the US, whose insides ‘look like he has smoked for 30 years’, would suggest otherwise.
Believing it was just a ‘neat trend’, Hatfield began smoking vapes at 13. He started with box mods and then switched to disposables. Eventually, he was puffing one every other day.
In October 2021, he was rushed to the hospital after he felt severe chest pain and cramps. The construction worker was diagnosed with a collapsed left lung. Apparently, he had spontaneous pneumothorax, which happens when air gets trapped between a lung and the chest wall. The doctor claimed his lungs looked like he had had three packs of cigarettes everyday for over 30 years.
He said, “I was pretty upset. I thought vaping was better than smoking and I was worried about my future. I was very scared.”
However, he didn’t connect it to vapes at that time and continued with his addiction until they had collapsed three times. “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” he added.
In February 2022, he had his lung collapsing for the fourth time. He underwent a Bullectomy surgery to eliminate air pockets from the right lung, reports Metro.
He said the surgery was the most painful experience of his life, and the experience made him realise how dangerous vaping is. “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,” he said.
He has decided he’d never touch a vape or smoke again. Now, he tries his best to warn other teenagers about the severe consequences of smoking that he has to put up with now.
Read more: Everything To Know About The E-Cigarette Ban & Why The Indian Govt. May Have Enforced It
