A teen in the UK has spoken out after his traumatic experience with vaping that left him in hospital for 10 weeks.
Ewan Fisher was vaping during his time at school just before his GCSEs, and he was an aspiring boxer. He was a normal, healthy lad basically. Until his lungs failed on him, and he needed artificial ones to stay alive – and experience him and the doctors blame on vaping.
Before he suffered an extreme immune response as a result of vaping, Ewan was a smoker, and wanted to quit and he thought it’d benefit his health greatly. But, now he experiences similar things a lifelong smoker of 80-years-old would face such as getting out of breath just from walking up the stairs.
“They tried telling me that I’d make a full recovery, but it’s nearly four years on and I still really struggle. They said my lungs would make a full recovery within two years but it’s been a lot longer and I wouldn’t even say they’re at 60 percent.
“I used to be really healthy. I used to run every night and I can’t do anything anymore. When it’s hot it messes with my lungs. I’m on steroids to help them cope. I can’t run, I really struggle up hills. 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.”
Ewan pictured a few years ago boxing.
His case made headlines last year too, after doctors used it as an opportunity to warn fellow young vapers about the dangers that come with it.
One of the doctors that treated Ewan, Dr Jayesh Mahendra Bhatt, who is a consultant in paediatric respiratory medicine at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust said: “The evidence we gathered showed that it was that vaping that was to blame.
“I know at least one colleague who has seen a similar case.”
A picture of Ewan now.
“There are two important lessons here. The first is always to consider a reaction to e-cigarettes in someone presenting with an atypical respiratory illness. The second is that we consider e-cigarettes as ‘much safer than tobacco’ at our peril.”
Since the incident, Ewan has worked hard at his trade and managed to get some good qualifications in finance and business. He is now studying to a be an accountant. He also travels around the country visiting schools and young people, warning them about the dangers of vaping – so they don’t have to go what he went through.
