A VAPER who had surgery after getting a lung-eating infection was kept alive by double-D breast implants, doctors have revealed.
Davey Bauer, 34, from DeSoto, Massachusetts, went through a cartridge of e-cigarette liquid a day for nearly 10 years before he was struck down with pseudomonas bacteria.
He had been in good health previously but the landscaper’s condition deteriorated rapidly and doctors feared he was at the “end of the road”.
However, they managed to operate on him in May thanks to the help of the prosthetic breasts, which were used to stabilise his heart while doctors replaced his lungs.
Davey’s doctor Dr Ankit Bharat, of Northwestern Medicine, said the surgeon’s needed a “crash course” in implants to pull it off.
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He told PEOPLE: “We had to come up with something very creative. This is the only way we could logically create a solution that may give the patient a fighting chance.
“It was kind of almost magical to see when we took out all of the old lungs within a matter of hours, his body started to show signs of healing and recovery
“His heart started to get stronger without all the bacteria.”
A deadly bacteria that is 'becoming harder to treat'
Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a type of bacteria that does not normally cause infections except in people who already have weakened immune systems, according to the NHS.
There were 4,745 cases reported in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in 2018, up 10.7 per cent since 2009, according to Public Health England.
The bacteria causes infections in the blood, lungs or other parts of the body and is becoming harder to treat because of antibiotic resistance.
It is most common in people who are in hospital, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Davey contracted it after initially going to hospital for flu in April.
He had been vaping for nearly a decade because it “seemed like a healthier alternative” to smoking, he said.
Vapes are seen as healthier than cigarettes as they do not contain cancer-causing chemicals.
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But little is known about their long-term effects, while countless studies have shown they are not without risk.
Davey went to urgent care for the flu but was told he only had “a little bit of pneumonia” and sent home with antibiotics, his girlfriend of seven years Susan Gore said.
The next day he could barely move and she drove him to the emergency department at a local hospital where he caught the bacteria.
The infection became fulminant, the medical term for when the body is unable to clear it and the bacteria “eats away the lung and causes more and more pus”, Dr Bharat said.
I never imagined we’d be using DD breast implants
He was transferred to Chicago’s Northwestern Medicine “as a last ditch effort” to save his life.
Davey went into deadly cardiac arrest at the hospital and surgeons came up with the plan to replace his lungs.
They drained all his blood during the surgery and the implants were used to keep the heart directly in the middle of his chest.
Dr Bharat said: "One of our plastic surgeons was very gracious to give us a rapid-fire course on the different types, shapes and sizes of breast implants.
"We picked out a couple options and some of them were easier than others to mould inside Davey’s chest, with the DD option being the best fit.
"I never imagined we’d be using DD breast implants to help bridge a patient to lung transplantation, but our team is known for taking on the most difficult cases and thinking outside the box to save lives."
Meanwhile, artificial lungs were used to keep him breathing while they removed his own disease-infested organs.
He was given a lung transplant within days thanks to a donor at a nearby centre and Davey is now recovering as an outpatient, with regular therapy and tests.
Davey said he believes that vaping “contributed to the situation” and is warning people against the “stupid habit”.
If I could go back in time, I never would have picked up a cigarette or vape pen
He said: "I’m so grateful to be alive and know I wouldn’t be here today without the support of my girlfriend, family, friends and my Northwestern Medicine transplant team who never gave up on me.
"While we don’t have definitive ways of proving my years of vaping caused my medical condition, doctors do know for a fact that vaping causes lung injury.
"If I could go back in time, I never would have picked up a cigarette or vape pen, and I hope my story can help encourage others to quit, because I wouldn’t wish this difficult journey on anyone."
On the implants, he added: "I plan to get a t-shirt made that says ‘DD Davey’ on it and change all my gaming profiles.
"But in all seriousness, I’m so proud to be the first Northwestern Medicine patient to undergo this innovative procedure, and I hope this medical first paves the way for more critically ill patients to receive lung transplants in the near future."
Susan said: "Still to this day, I can’t believe Davey lived without any lungs. He was breathing, blood pumping without lungs.
"While we waited inside his hospital room at Northwestern, I would take a breath in and say, ‘one breath for me and one for Davey’.
"It’s hard to wrap my mind around it, and I’m still in awe that Davey was able to do this – it truly shows his strength."
Dr Bharat said “vaping played a big part in how sick Davey got” because he was otherwise fit and healthy.
