A teenager, Kyla Bright, has appeared on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, warning about the dangers of vaping for young people.
ITV reported that Kyla from Egremont in West Cumbria, required five and a half hours of surgery after suffering from a collapsed lung. She had previously consumed a 4000 puff vape in a week, according to ITV.
She had been at a friend’s house and passed out but explained that she had done this many times before due to low blood pressure. However, in the morning, she was unable to walk without feeling pain. Her father then took her straight to hospital.
Kyla said, “I really couldn’t move properly. I could only be in one position without any pain.”
As soon as they arrived at the hospital, Kyla had to have an X-ray. Initially they inserted a drain to remove the air that was collapsed in her lung. However, the drain did not work so they had to operate.
She told ITV that she would have several puffs each time she picked up a vape. She had also had some chest pains previously but had dismissed them.
Separately her father explained that he had been a heavy smoker and vaping had helped him quit. However, he has stopped vaping because of Kyla’s experience. He believes the flavours that are now offered are part of the attraction for young people.
Last year we reported on a 12-year-old girl from Belfast, Sarah Griffin, who had also been hospitalised due to a collapsed lung. She admitted that she liked the flavours but was also warning others about the dangers of vaping and was telling others not to start.
Meanwhile, the BBC reported that a boy was taken to hospital earlier this month after vaping at his school in Barrow-upon-Soar, Leicestershire. It was reported that the boy was later able to return home. Della Bartram, associate principal at Humphrey Perkins School where the boy attended, told the BBC that he had had an adverse reaction after vaping and the school rang for an ambulance.
Ecl-ips has supported a number of schools by supplying the advanced vape detector, the HALO Smart Sensor. The schools have said this has made a real difference in reducing vaping in their toilets and cut down on the associated anti-social behaviour.
Charlotte Slattery, Deputy Headteacher at St Joseph’s College in Stoke-on-Trent said: “Being able to identify students who are vaping has also allowed us to have much more meaningful conversations with our young people about the dangers of vaping and garner support from parents. This is helping us to have open dialogue with students that we hope will become more of a proactive message, in time, rather than a reactive one.”
If you are a school leader and need to tackle vaping among your students, contact us to find out more about how the HALO Smart Sensor can help.