Teen left with serious damage to lungs from vaping weeks after sister almost died from similar incident
The horrors of vaping weren't enough to put one teenager off using her vape, despite seeing her sister nearly die from it.
For Tamzin Blight, she put a painful feeling in her chest down to 'trapped wind' before later finding out she had a hole in her lung caused by her vaping habit.
Tazmin, who has used c-cigs she was just 13, admitted to continuing to use her vape and consume the equivalent of 50 cigarettes a day despite her sister Kyla hitting headlines last month for being hospitalised due to them.
On Saturday 29 June, Tazmin discovered her lung had collapsed, just weeks after her Kyla underwent emergency surgery when vaping burst a hole in her lung too.
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Experiencing symptoms including 'tightness' in her chest and pain in her back and shoulders, Tazmin put the feelings down to having trapped wind until her concerned dad Mark took her to hospital.
An X-ray revealed a burst pulmonary bleb caused Tazmin's lung to collapse, and she is still waiting to hear if she will need surgery.
Younger sister Kyla, 17, was rushed into hospital and had emergency surgery in May after vaping similarly burst a hole in her lung.
Tazmin has admitted to continuing to use her own vape as she 'never believed' the same would happen to her, but now vows to stop.
Tazmin gets through a 10ml bottle of vape juice every five days, giving her up to 600 daily puffs, which is the equivalent of nearly 50 cigarettes a day.
Dad Mark, who lives in Egremont, Cumbria, said: "It's been an absolute nightmare. The coincidence is just unbelievable.
"It knocked me right back to where I was a few weeks ago with Kyla. It's just horrible. I'm still in shock about it.
"The doctors took us straight in because of what happened to Kyla. They told her she had pneumothorax. It's when little tiny holes appear on your lung and they burst.
"Kyla's was a great big one and hers is a tiny one. We wanted to catch it early. The doctor's said vapes are definitely what caused it."
The carer revealed Tazmin has now been put on a clinical trial by Carlisle Hospital's respiratory team and after a CT scan revealed her lung inflation had decreased, the pair are hoping surgery to drain it won't be necessary.
Mark continued: "She may not need surgery if her lung can stand up on its own. She's just been lying in her room. She's not done much for a while, she's been off work for a couple of weeks now.
"Vaping has really frightened Tazmin now and she's done really well not vaping."
Tazmin, who works in admin, said: "I never thought it would happen to me. I was definitely shocked. I had in my head it would just be trapped wind or something.
"You never expect it to happen to you and it only just happened to Kyla so I just didn't expect it to be a collapsed lung.
"The pain started on Friday. I got in from work and I had loads of tightness in my chest and pain in my back and shoulders.
"I thought I'd try and sleep it off but when I woke up it was still there. It was only on one side. When I got out of bed it was so much pain.
"I thought I should get it checked out after what just happened to Kyla. She was a lot worse than me.
"I just can't wait for it to be sorted so I can breathe properly and not have this pain in my chest anymore."
Tazmin explained that she recently switched her disposable vapes for a refillable one, replacing the liquid up to four times a day, but now plans to stop completely.
Her dad Mark, who has previously appeared on ITV's Good Morning Britain to highlight the dangers of vaping and ensure e-cigarettes are 'completely banned', added: "I would like to see them completely banned. These vapes are marketed for kids.
"You can see they are, just the way they taste and smell. I passed a candy floss flavoured one the other day. It's not advertised for me. It's aimed at kids.
"We know what vapes are doing to people but there's just no proof."
He continued: "Until then, people are still going to be going out and buying these throw away things.
"I'm really pleased with what I'm doing getting this out in the open. I've had people stop me in the street and say 'my daughter's stopped vaping now because of you'."
Niamh Spence