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Vaping teen who started at 13 is left with collapsed lung for the 4th time

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Draven Hatfield vaping teen collapsed lung for the 4th time
Draven Hatfield West Virginia teen who started vaping at age 13 is left with collapsed lung for the 4th time as he finally gives up.
Draven Hatfield vaping teen collapsed lung for the 4th time
Draven Hatfield West Virginia teen who started vaping at age 13 is left with collapsed lung for the 4th time as he finally gives up. Images via screenshot.

Draven Hatfield West Virginia teen who started vaping at 13 is left with collapsed lung for the 4th time as he finally gives up and discusses damage caused. 

A West Virginia teen who started vaping at just age 13 has been left scarred after a ‘weekend’ habit progressed to ‘almost every day, all the time’ left him with a collapsed lung.

Draven Hatfield, 19, of Harts, West Va., was forced to have a bullectomy surgery to remove air pockets from his lung after it collapsed for the fourth time.

The teen who started smoking vapes when he was just 13 has been left traumatised after his lungs collapsed four times.

Hatfield took up vaping thinking it was a ‘neat trend’, but was horrified when doctors discovered that his lungs looked like he’d smoked three packs of cigarettes a day for more than 30 years.

Hatfield started using box mods before moving on to disposables around three years later, until he eventually puffed his way through one every two to three days.

How dangerous is vaping? 

But the construction company contractor suddenly felt severe chest pain and cramps down his side in October 2021, and rushed to hospital where he was told his left lung had collapsed.

Draven had spontaneous pneumothorax, or a collapsed lung, which occurs when air is trapped between a lung and the chest wall, and spent a painful week connected to a chest tube.

A week later the same happened again and it wasn’t until his other lung collapsed for a third time that December that he connected it to the vapes and decided to quit.

But in February 2022, Draven’s lung collapsed for the fourth time and he was forced to have a bullectomy surgery to remove air pockets from his right lung.

The teen claims he’s suffered with PTSD as the health professionals rushing to his aid while inserting the chest tube didn’t numb his body properly, which he described as the most painful experience of his life.

After a ‘scary’ ordeal, Draven has since recovered but still bears scars and experiences pain to this day, so is now keen to raise awareness of the dangers that vaping can cause.

Said Draven: ‘It made me realise how dangerous vaping can be.

My lungs looked like I’d smoked three packs of cigarettes a day for at least 30 years

‘The specialist said that it developed air bubbles on my lungs and they’d burst and would leak air and that would cause my lung to collapse.

‘From the first time it collapsed I had PTSD because they had to rush and they didn’t numb me fully when they put the chest tube in and it was the most painful experience of my life.

‘The doctor said that my lungs looked like I’d smoked three packs of cigarettes a day for at least 30 years.

‘I was pretty upset. I thought vaping was better than smoking and I was worried about my future. I was very scared.’

Admitting he started vaping because he thought it looked cool, he said the occasional habit soon became all-consuming.

Draven’s left lung collapsed for the first time in October 2021 when he was aged 17 before collapsing for a fourth time in February, 2022, leaving the teen having given up vaping and committed to change. 

Awareness of vaping smoking devices

Draven says he is now keen to raise awareness of the dangers of the vapor smoking devices.

Draven said: ‘I still feel pain to this day. On the collapsed side, I hurt pretty bad sometimes and I have scares, I feel like my lung will collapse again but then I realise it’s just the pain.

‘And my lower back hurts quite a bit often now.

‘I’ll never touch a vape or smoke again. I’m very positive that vaping has done the damage, my specialist and lung doctor were also positive on that.

‘To quit vaping I used nicotine gum and tricked my mind, I used it and lowered the mg and eventually chewed regular gym.

‘I don’t think a lot of young people are aware that vaping can be this serious. I’d like more to be aware that there’s implications for vaping.’

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