17-year-old loses part of a lung due to vaping
A 17-year-old girl from Cumbria almost lost her life after her lung collapsed due to excessive vaping
On one terrifying night, Kyla Blight, a 17-year-old British girl, almost lost her life when her lung collapsed while she was sleeping at a friend's house. Her father, Mark Blight, recounts how she received a call at 4am on Saturday, May 11, informing him that her daughter had fainted and was 'blue'.
Mark rushed Kyla to the hospital, where doctors performed a five-and-a-half-hour surgery to remove part of her lung, as the young woman nearly went into cardiac arrest. A small blister of air, known as a lung bleb, had developed at the top of Kyla's lungs, and it is believed that her excessive vaping caused it to burst, leading to lung collapse.
Kyla, who started vaping at age 15 believing it was harmless, used to vape 4,000 puffs a week, equivalent to 400 cigarettes. After spending two weeks in the hospital, she is now determined to never touch a vape again.
Mark Blight, a full-time carer and father of nine, took to Facebook to share his daughter's experience and alert other young people about the dangers of vaping. "I've been through hell with Kyla the last few weeks. It all comes down to vaping, you can't put it down to anything else," Mark said. "Seeing my daughter in that situation was terrifying. She was so close to cardiac arrest."
The nightmare began in November 2023, when Kyla was first hospitalized, and was repeated in February 2024. On May 11, the bleb finally burst, causing her lung to collapse and requiring immediate surgery.
Mark admits that, although he himself has been vaping for 13 years to quit smoking, he now urges young people to avoid disposable vapes, highlighting the unknown dangers.
"People underestimate how dangerous they can be. I used them to quit smoking, but after what happened to Kyla, it scares me. For young people there should be a ban, especially disposable ones."
Kyla also warns other young people: "When I started vaping, all my friends were doing it. I thought it was harmless. But now, after what I've been through, I won't touch them. This experience has terrified me."