Teen’s Vaping Habit Causes Severe Lung Damage, Coughing Up Pints Of Blood

A 17-year-old from Shifnal, Shropshire, is facing life-threatening health issues after his vaping habit led to severe lung damage, leaving him coughing up “pints” of blood. Jayden Richardson, who began using e-cigarettes at the age of 12 to “fit in,” now reveals the harrowing consequences of his addiction. Once smoking the equivalent of around 50 cigarettes a day, Jayden experienced a terrifying episode on the last day of his family holiday in Turkey in August 2024.

According to Jayden, it all began with a mild chest pain the night before, which he initially dismissed. “It started off in Turkey. The night before I had a bit of chest pain but didn’t really think much of it whatsoever. I woke up the next morning, had a quick go on my vape and just as if I had a bit of a chesty cough,” he recalled, according to the Mirror.

Things took a dramatic turn when, while swimming, he suddenly started coughing up significant amounts of blood. “I went to cough a few times and it felt a bit phlegmy so I went to spit it out. I saw that it was blood and this put me in shock. I didn’t know what to do myself.”

Jayden described the severity of the incident: “I got hold of my mum and she said ‘if it gets any worse I’ll come straight to you’ because she was out at breakfast. About five minutes goes by and I’m still coughing up little bits at the start. She comes over and the first time I was coughing it wasn’t really bad at all. But a couple hours later I had a few drinks and stuff and I got into the swimming pool and as soon as I got into the swimming pool I’m just coughing up loads of blood into my hands. So I was pulled up out of the swimming pool by my mum’s friend. Gone straight to the toilet and I’m coughing up pint-loads of blood. It scared me to see, especially at a young age. It was traumatic. That was probably going on for a good 10 minutes of me coughing up pretty heavy blood.”

After flying home the next day, Jayden was rushed to hospital at Birmingham Airport by his father when he began coughing up more blood. Initially, doctors assumed the problem was a stomach ulcer linked to his holiday diet of drinks, greasy food, and a kebab “every night.” His mother, Elita Richardson, recalled, “When I eventually got back he’d been in and out of hospital fobbing him off for a stomach ulcer. Because I was perceiving it as he was sicking it up but he was coughing it up. He was heaving. I was thinking ‘I let him have a couple of drinks on holiday, he’s been eating greasy food, he was having a kebab every night’.”

A week later, an endoscopy revealed that Jayden had severe lung damage attributed to his “excessive vaping.” Elita added, “I think they were going through the options of everything not thinking that a kid of his age would have severe lung damage. A week later that’s when he had the camera down.

The consultant said he’s never seen so much lung damage on a kid. It’s awful. ‘Excessive vaping’, that’s what they said. It was a shock. It’s awful. I’m grateful we realized when we did. I was fearful if it had gone on any longer it could’ve been worse. What makes it worse is when it happened again, the bloke from Hollyoaks passed away [and his health issues have been linked to] excessive vaping.”

Jayden, who is now awaiting a CT scan, vowed to “never” use disposable vapes again and expressed regret for his lapse during his birthday celebration. “I ended up having another go on a vape. Stupidly I don’t really know what got into me. I wasn’t heavily using it but I was using it pretty frequently. I was just sitting in bed and literally had a cough. From the tone of cough it was, I could tell straight away it was going to be my blood. I went to spit out. It wasn’t too much blood but it still wasn’t nice to see. It was pretty stressful.”

He further added, “I’m feeling a lot of pain in the left side which I imagine could be my left lung. I get frequent pain. I could be sitting here just doing nothing and it could be a sharp stabbing pain. It hurts when I cough. It’s terrible.”

Jayden’s experience serves as a stark warning about the dangers of vaping. “Everyone was doing it around me. I felt like it was kind of to fit in but it just felt normal to do it. I was vaping everyday. I wouldn’t really put it down to be honest. It’s just a bad habit really. Once you start, obviously it’s highly addictive, it’s hard to stop. When the disposables were more popular, you don’t know what’s actually in them. You find fake ones. None of it’s good but they especially are really bad for you. All sorts of chemicals. You don’t know what they’re really putting in. They’re dangerous and no one should touch them. They should be banned in every country. If I could go back to that moment when I first started I’d tell myself ‘never to touch one of them’. It’s crazy how dangerous they are and what they can actually do to the human body. You don’t realize it when you do it. It just affects you in the long run. I would never touch one.”