A doorman at Blackpool’s Trilogy nightclub was left in a coma for three weeks after his heart stopped multiple times because of his use of disposable vapes.
James Johnson was put into a medically induced coma after his body broke down after smoking one 2,400 puff disposable vape a day while working security at Trilogy in Talbot Road.
The 20-year-old new dad said: “The vaping started from working on the doors and being stood there while everyone else is smoking and vaping, it was just to pass time. I don’t know why I started it but obviously I did, it was a year and a half ago I started.”
He said: “It was the disposable ones, they were called the IVG 2400, and I was going through about one of them a day, it was 2,400 puffs.”
Mr Johnson, of Adelaide Street, Fleetwood said he had no warning signs of ill health before he was hospitalised.
He said: “Crazily, there was no kind of indications my health was deteriorating until the night that I stopped breathing. I was laid in bed next to my partner and I started throwing up blood. I stopped breathing and the next thing I knew I woke up a month later”.
Mr Johnson said: “As a result of vaping both of my lungs collapsed which then led to pneumonia in both my lungs, its called bilateral pneumonia, it’s the worst case of pneumonia you can catch.
“While in the coma I had issues with my liver, my liver functions were really low so I developed a fatty liver.”
Fatty liver is a build up of fat in the liver that is harmless at initial stages but can progressively become worse and cause other health problems.
He said: “I then caught C, DIFF, I was internally bleeding from my bowels and then my heart was having problems as well. I couldn’t believe it. It was such an intense hospital stay all for the sake of a vape.
“May 9 was the day I died.”
When Mr Johnson was hospitalised at Blackpool Victoria Hospital leaving his partner and seven-month old daughter to manage without him
Mr Johnson said: “My mum and dad were at my side every single day. For a while it was touch and go whether I would survive. It was very emotional.
The problems continued even after Mr Johnson had woken up from his three week coma.
He said: “I woke up and I didn’t know I had a daughter and I didn’t know who my partner was. I didn’t know who my mum was my dad was. It was quite a shock.”
Being in the coma had also take a physical toll as well, he said: “I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t talk.”
The dad-of-one said his memory was quite bad for six days and it took him two weeks to learn to walk and eat again.
He also had trouble with his voice as a result of damage to his voice box as a result of having tubes down his throat.
As a a result of the vaping and trauma of the pneumonia, Mr Johnson has been left with just one lung.
He said: “Day to day things are very hard but I’ve decided to go back to work. I needed to get back out there and socialise and build up my immune system.”
Despite his ill health Mr Johnson is now training for a white collar boxing match in November.
He said: “I’m doing it just to show people that anything can happen and you can still go out and do something stupid.
“Everyone has told me I’m stupid for doing this as I only having one lung and just coming out of hospital, but I want to prove to everyone that I can still do something with my life after all of this.”
The money raised by the fight on November 24 at Blackpool’s Village Hotel will be donated to Cancer Research.
Mr Johnsons issued a message to people who are vaping today, he was: “Don’t do it, believe people when they say how bad it is because I didn’t believe it was until I woke up and was told I could have lost my life.”
Source – Blackpool Gazette
