Rhianna Benson
A self-professed 'vape addict' has claimed she's 'grateful to be alive' after her overuse of electronic cigarettes left 'black goo' pouring out of her.
Prior to her life-threatening ordeal, 34-year-old Jordan Brielle had smoked traditional cigarettes since her teenage years.
In 2021, however, she made the decision to switch to vaping in a bid to reduce damage to her body.
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Within a matter of months, however, the Cincinnati, Ohio local was addicted to her new rechargeable device, and was coughing up a colossal $500 a week to fund her habit.
In fact, she now admits she was so reliant upon her vape, she even showered with it and slept with it in her hand.
At the height of her addictive habit, Jordan recalls how she began to feel a 'heaviness' in her chest, but believed it was something as simple as a respiratory infection or bronchitis.
"I had a horrible cough and was going to the hospital two or three times a week for help," she later told press. "I had little to no voice.
"Each time they would send me home. It felt like there were 80lbs of pressure just laying on my chest. I'd never felt so sick in my life."
"My body was swelling up from my ankles to my kneecaps. I kept going to the hospital because I was progressively getting worse.
"My skin was turning grey, I couldn't focus, I was very discombobulated. It was hurting to walk. I could barely do anything. Nobody knew what was actually wrong with me. I felt like I was dying."
In May this year, however, stepmother-of-one Jordan's addiction to vaping almost cost her her life, after her partner found her unresponsive in bed one evening with 'black mucus' dripping out of her nose and mouth.
"He said I was gasping but couldn't catch my breath," she looked back. "I was unresponsive and had a faint pulse.
"He began sucking the sputum out of my nose and mouth to try and give me CPR. He called 911 because the CPR wasn't working. I don't remember anything. I was intubated immediately and taken to hospital."
A stomach-wrenching two litres of black fluid was then drained from her lungs, before she was placed in a medically induced coma for 11 days.
"My body was trying to force out the vape juice inside my lungs which was like concrete," she explained. "It was pure black and bloody. At the hospital, they were sucking it out of me.
"It felt like there was a popped balloon in my lungs. I had to do breathing and lungs exercises before I was discharged."
Despite having been released from hospital, Jordan has been left with a minor brain injury due to lack of oxygen to her brain.
Now, she is using her harrowing experience to warn others about the risk of becoming addicted to vaping.
"The doctors told me there's a high possibility this could happen again," she added. "I'm better now in some ways but worse in other ways.
"They really saved my life. They told me if I'd waited any longer, I wouldn't have been here. I haven't touched a vape since.
"I would say to anyone else quit any way you can. Do it for your health, your family, your life, your lungs - whatever motivates you, use that reason and stop. I wouldn't wish what I'd been through on anyone else.
"I feel grateful to be alive."