A 'TERRIFIED' dad claims his teenage daughter nearly died after vaping burst a hole in her lung - as she smoked the equivalent of 400 cigarettes a week.
Mark Blight rushed his daughter Kyla to hospital in the early hours on 11 May, after receiving a phone call that she had collapsed and turned 'blue' while sleeping over at a friend's house.
After nearly having a cardiac arrest, the 17-year-old underwent a five and a half hour surgery to remove part of her lung and spent two further weeks in hospital before she could return home.
A small air blister known as a pulmonary bleb had developed on the top of Kyla's lungs.
It's thought her excessive vaping caused it to burst and led to her lung collapsing.
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The student, who began vaping at just 15, believed the habit to be 'harmless' and would get through an entire 4,000 puff vape a week, which is the equivalent to 400 cigarettes.
I've cried like a baby. It was horrible to watch
Mark Blight
But Kyla now vows the ordeal has "scared" her away from touching disposable vapes ever again.
Full-time carer Mark took to Facebook to spread awareness of his daughter's "life-threatening" ordeal, urging young people to "throw away vapes" because "it's not worth it".
Dad-of-nine Mark, who lives in Egremont, Cumbria, said: "I've been to hell and back with Kyla over the last couple of weeks. I just put it down to vaping, they can't put it down to anything else but vaping that's caused this.
"She was at a friend's house and I got a phone call at 4am that she had collapsed and gone blue. We took her down to the hospital.
"Her lung collapsed this time due to the hole. She was close to having a cardiac arrest.
"They rushed us into Newcastle and she had the operation on Tuesday.
"It was a five and a half hour operation. She'd had a seizure on the operating table.
"I was talking to the surgeon and he was saying about these blebs that can form on the lungs.
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"They think it is the throw away vapes that burst these blebs and puncture a hole in your lungs.
"Apparently it's a big thing now. He's done a lot of operations like this."
I honestly thought they were harmless and wouldn't do anything to anyone. But now I won't touch them. I wouldn't go near them
Kyla Blight
Mark said it had been excruciating to watch his little girl go through it all.
"It was terrifying for me. I've cried like a baby. It was horrible to watch. I've been with her the whole time.
"It was life-threatening. It really did threaten her life because she was so close to having a cardiac arrest on that Friday.
"They said she went blue. They thought she'd gone."
'WON'T TOUCH THEM'
Mark said Kyla was first rushed to hospital in November 2023 after he believed she was having a heart attack, but an X-ray revealed she had a hole in her lung after a bleb had formed.
The student was taken to hospital again in February 2024 but was told she was healed.
But just months later, on May 11, she was hospitalised for two weeks after the bleb burst and caused her lung to collapse.
Kyla admitted she began using disposable vapes aged 15 after seeing her friends at school doing it and began using it everyday, getting through 4,000 puffs a week after thinking it was 'harmless'.
However, the student revealed the experience has 'terrified' her and opened her eyes to the dangers of using e-cigarettes, which she now 'won't touch'.
Kyla said: "When I was 15 it started becoming a popular thing. All my friends were doing it. I just thought it would be harmless and that I would be fine.
"Everyday I would use the 4,000 puff ones and I would go through them in about a week.
"I honestly thought they were harmless and wouldn't do anything to anyone, even though I had seen so many things about it. I just feel like everyone has that same view.
"But now I won't touch them. I wouldn't go near them. The situation has really scared me out of them.
"I was terrified. We went [to hospital] thinking we were only going to be in there for a few hours but ended up being there for two weeks having surgeries and all this."
'NOT WORTH IT'
Mark revealed that despite once catching his daughter using an e-cigarette, he hadn't realised she had started vaping at age 15 and underestimated the extent she was doing it.
The 61-year-old admitted he has vaped for 13 years to help quit using cigarettes.
But he now urges young people to stop using disposable ones after seeing the dangers first-hand.
Mark said: "People underestimate how dangerous they can be. I used them to stop smoking 13 years ago and it's never bothered me at all.
"Although you think it doesn't bother you, it might do later on [considering] what happened to Kyla. It's scared me."
The government this year announced plans to ban disposable vapes and curb flavours aimed at appealing kids, aiming to roll them out by April 1, 2025.
Mark came out in favour of barring youngsters from vaping, saying: "For kids there should definitely be a ban. Especially the throw away ones. These chemicals that they've got in them haven't been tested properly.
"The doctor said he sees a lot more of it now than he used to. He did say there are a lot of young ones with holes in their lungs.
"I would say to parents, watching your kid do this, you're going to go through what I went through. It's just not worth it.
"For kids, they don't understand until it happens to them. That's why I wrote on my Facebook. I'm going to have to make young kids aware of this."
