A man who vaped for nearly a decade is urging young people to quit after his lung suddenly collapsed.
Raymond Dehn, 24, had been vaping since the age of 15 — after sneaking devices from a local shop that didn’t check IDs.
Raymond says the collapse was his “wake-up call” and has now sworn off vaping for good.
The 24-year-old was out getting food with his girlfriend on Sept. 13 when he suddenly felt a “searing pain” between his shoulder blades.
The pain intensified until he passed out in the middle of the mall and an ambulance rushed him to hospital.
Doctors diagnosed him with a spontaneous pneumothorax — a sudden lung collapse — which they say they are seeing more frequently in young vapers.
Raymond, a salesman from Buffalo, said: “It was a terrifying and extremely painful experience.
“I’m a healthy young man who would have no reason to think this would happen, other than my vaping.
“I’m happy to be healing now, but the recovery can take up to two months.
“I’ve completely sworn off vaping and I implore other young people to do the same.”
Raymond first picked up a vape as a teenager, even though he had never been addicted to cigarettes.
He said: “I barely ever smoked.
“Maybe sometimes me and my friends would sneak a cigarette when we were teenagers.
“But it very quickly became about vaping, because it was so much easier to hide.
“I had a friend who had a hook up at a vape shop that wouldn’t ID us, so from there it was a go.
“I think so many kids gravitate towards it because it’s so convenient and leaves very little trace.”
Over time, vaping became a habit and in recent years, Raymond also started using THC pens.
Raymond was taking a moment to vape in his car before he and his girlfriend went back into the mall to grab some food.
On the day of his collapse, he had just finished work and was sitting in the car with his girlfriend when he took a hit.
He said: “I remember taking a hit on my vape and my THC pen in the car and coughing, which isn’t abnormal.
“But then this searing pain hit both my shoulder blades and would just not go away.
“I tried to power through and we started to walk back to the mall, but the pain grew so rapidly.
“I was holding in screams.
“About a minute later, while walking in the mall, I passed out.
“I came to in roughly 20 seconds and my girlfriend called an ambulance.”
The pair set off to the hospital after the ambulance arrived 30 minutes later.
Once at the hospital, Raymond had to wait hours before being seen during which time nurses helped keep him conscious.
He was given an x-ray, which is when they discovered that his lung had collapsed.
He said: “The doctor came into the room and told me that I’d suffered a spontaneous pneumothorax.
“I was honestly so shocked.
“It was so scary to think I suddenly had a broken lung, especially being so young and healthy.
“The doctor wasn’t able to provide a specific cause of the collapse.
“But she did say that she’d seen three or four young people come into the hospital over the past six months with the same thing.
“The only common denominator between all of us was that we vaped.”
Raymond spent four nights in hospital with a tube inserted into his chest to slowly reinflate his lung.
Raymond said: “I was so weak I felt like I couldn’t hold conversation for the first four days.
“It was incredibly painful getting the tube put in, even though they’d given me morphine.
“The tube was wrapped around my lung and was sucking out any air or liquid trapped in my chest cavity.
“By sucking those elements out, it was able to help reinflate my lung.
“After four days, they took the tube out and sent me home but I still have to return for an x-ray before I’m in the clear.”
This experience has left Raymond both physically and mentally fraught, as he deals with daily paranoia of his lung collapsing again.
He said: “Every few minutes I get this overwhelming fear it’ll happen again.
“The whole experience is sticking with me in a really big way.
“It’s why I want to advocate so strongly for other young people to be aware.
“I’ve been using ZYN nicotine pouches ever since and have switched to edibles for whenever I want some THC.
“I’m taking this as my wake up call and taking it seriously.”
