A TEENAGER who took up vaping as an alternative to smoking ended up on a life support machine with organ failure.
Ewan Fisher made the switch in a bid to improve his boxing skills and overall fitness – but he found himself with the lungs of an 80-year-old.
The lad said he was puffing away on fruity e-cigarettes up to 14 times a day, which caused a condition called hypersensitivity pneumonitis.
This occurs when the lungs develop an immune response to something you breathe in, resulting in inflammation of the tissue.
Ewan fell ill the night before he was due to start his GCSE exams aged 16.
He spent eight weeks in intensive care and then needed an artificial lung to keep him alive.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain today, Ewan said: “I took up vaping as a substitute for smoking cigarettes because I wanted to fulfil my boxing career and get to my maximum potential.
“My mum told me to stop vaping but I didn’t listen and it just went downhill from there.
“I ended up on two different life support machines in a coma with just 20 per cent chance of living.
“At one stage they called my family in to say goodbye because they didn’t think I would make it through the night.
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“It ruined my whole life.”
Five years on, Ewan, from Nottingham, is still struggling.
“Doctors told me I’d make a full recovery but I’m still having quite a lot of side effects now,” he added.
“It took me quite a long time to even walk again so I missed a lot of my main teenage years.”
The former athlete now wants to warn other young people of the potential dangers of e-cigarettes.
“Please, please don’t do it,” Ewan said.
“It affects everyone around you and I was close to death.”
Professor Jonathan Grigg, who specialises in paediatric medicine and sat next to Ewan on GMB, added: “We know vapes are not safe.
“Ewan is the tip of the iceberg. We’re building up a whole cohort of children who are going to be addicted to vaping and have long-term effects on their developing lung problems.”
‘IT RUINED MY WHOLE LIFE’
Ewan had dreamt of becoming a professional boxer, but now gets out of breath just walking up the stairs.
Speaking to ITV last year, he said: “I used to be really healthy, running every night, but I can’t do anything anymore.
“I really struggle up hills, and it’s ruined all my joints. My life’s changed massively.
“My granddad is fitter than me and he’s 65.
“When I was in hospital they said I had the lungs of an 80-year-old life-long smoker and I’d only vaped for five or six months.
“I’ve lost my boxing career and I’ve lost a lot of the things that I used to do in life.”
Vapes have been linked to at least five deaths in Britain, with reports of the devices leaving kids suffering from collapsed lungs.
NHS figures show 40 youngsters under the age of 19 were admitted to hospital over the past year because of illegally-sold e-cigs.
Among them were 15 children aged nine or under – up from 12 last year and just two the year before.
Experts have warned that “youth vaping is fast becoming an epidemic among kids”.
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