A HUGE WARNING ABOUT VAPING
THE WARNING…
Petrea Mckeithen, a 26-year-old from Pennsylvania, began vaping at 21, drawn by its alluring flavors and rebellious vibe. She found the habit gripping, with the clouds of vapor and sweet tastes pulling her in deeper over a single year. But in September 2022, her life tilted sharply when she struggled to catch her breath, a terrifying shift for someone with no prior health troubles beyond mild breathing hiccups she’d chalked up to possible asthma. Her lungs, it turned out, had betrayed her—not from asthma, but from a collapse called pneumothorax, a brutal consequence her doctors tied to vaping.
The fallout was swift and harrowing. Life-flighted to a hospital, Mckeithen slipped into a 10-day coma, tethered to machines pumping oxygen into her battered lungs while nightmares haunted her unconscious mind. She awoke to a stark reality: chronic asthma and a condition dubbed "vaper’s lung" now shadowed her every breath, forcing her to medicate daily and monitor air quality like a hawk. The liquid she’d inhaled hadn’t just passed through—it had settled, drowning her lungs, a danger she now warns others about with a fervor born from near-death.
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THE LUCKY ENDING…
Today, Mckeithen’s world revolves around her 18-month-old son, her "whole universe," and a mission to shield others from vaping’s hidden perils. She’s confronted teens in stores, flashing photos of her ordeal to jolt them awake, her heart sinking at their casual puffs. The trauma lingers—not just hers, but her family’s, who watched her teeter on the edge of survival. Once a carefree habit, vaping left her with scars, a cautionary voice, and a life reshaped by its quiet violence.