Young mum’s wake-up call after developing ‘lungs of an 80-year-old’ from killer habit

A mum claims vaping almost killed her – when she discovered the “popping” sound as she breathed was due to the habit “frying her lungs like hot chicken”.

Hannah Roth says she had never smoked before but picked up vaping as a “bad habit” due to the stress of the pandemic lockdown and was soon vaping “every hour of the day”.

The 30-year-old began to hear a “popping” sound in her lungs last month when breathing and developed a fever of 40°C. The mum-of-two was horrified when doctors revealed she had pneumonia specifically caused by vaping as she had no idea this was a potential side effect.

Scans revealed her lungs were like someone in their 80s or who had been smoking for a decade and an x-ray reportedly shows the deterioration of her lung.

Doctor warns if she continues vaping, Mum will ‘die’

The receptionist says she has refused to touch a vape ever since that day as the doctor threw her menthol vape in the bin and warned her that if she continued she would ‘die’.

“The doctor came in and showed me my x-ray and said ‘do you vape?’ and he said ‘that’s why you have pneumonia’.” Hannah, from Tennessee, US, said.

“He told me that if I kept on [vaping] then I was going to die pretty much. He took my vape out of my purse and threw it in the trash can. He said ‘if you keep smoking these then you’re not going to be able to breathe’.”

“It was quite scary as a mother. I knew I couldn’t vape again as I’ve got two kids to take care of. He said ‘This is not what the lungs of a 30-year-old woman should look like, they look like a smoker of ten years’.

“I looked like I had the lungs of someone in their 80s, someone much older, when he showed me that first scan. I was really mad at myself because I had no idea that vaping could do that.

“The doctor told me ‘every time that you’re hitting that vape, that vapour is going into your lungs and it’s like frying hot chicken in there’. That’s why it was making a popping sound when I was breathing.”

Hannah estimates that she was vaping every hour of the day for four years.

Mum vows of hourly vaping habit

Now, Hannah has vowed to stay away from vaping in order to look after her seven and ten-year old sons and hopes to warn others to ditch the vapes.

“I’ve been vape free ever since I went to hospital and my lungs aren’t making the popping sound anymore,” Hannah said.

“The doctor said if I stop vaping, my lungs will be able to heal as long as I don’t vape anymore.

“I still get cravings for the vape but I chew a lot of gum and that helps. Overall I feel a lot healthier and I’m saving money now too because I’m not buying a vape every week.

“My advice would be just don’t vape, don’t pick it up and hit it. Even if you think you have control over it, sometimes you just don’t.”

— Kennedy News & Pics

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