A 22-year-old North Dakota man has been hospitalized for months and had to undergo a double lung transplant due to his troublesome vaping habit.
Jackson Allard was initially admitted to the University of Minnesota Medical Center in October 2023 for stomach pain.
After doctors conducted tests, he was found to be suffering from influenza 4 and double pneumonia, which had affected his lungs and oxygen levels.
The young adult was intubated to give his lungs a chance to heal, but his condition continued to worsen and doctors were forced to place him on an ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) machine.
Ultimately, several doctors advised Allard to undergo a double lung transplant to survive.
Jackson Allard, 22, was found to be suffering from influenza 4 and double pneumonia due to vaping. To survive, he had to undergo a double lung transplant
The young adult was intubated to give his lungs a chance to heal, but his condition continued to worsen and doctors were forced to place him on an ECMO machine.
Allard’s grandmother, Doreen Hurlburt said: ‘At one point a doctor said he had a 1 percent chance of living and we said, “He’s fighting, he’s been fighting, how many weeks are we going to give him the chance to fight, we’re not going to stop.” procedures or whatever.”
“He’s just friendly, he’s outgoing, everyone is just drawn to his energy and how fun he is.
“I thought for sure we were going to lose him. I thought for sure he wouldn’t survive this, but in my mind I kept imagining him coming home.
“You need to stop vaping, and we kept telling him that over and over again, and he was a heavy vaper. He vaped all the time, but he said, “It’s better than cigarettes.”
“Well, they said: with cigarettes you will have lung cancer in fifty years, and if you vape you will have permanent lung damage in five years.”
The vape-addicted adult and his mother, Jamie, will stay in Minneapolis for at least six months to attend regular checkups at University Hospital.
Based on the current situation, Allard can never drink alcohol or smoke and will need a transplant in his lifetime.
According to the GoFundMe page launched by Hurlburt, the last words he said before being intubated were, “I’m scared, I don’t want to be alone.”
The fundraising page has raised $20,910 toward its $30,000 goal.
Allard’s grandmother, Doreen Hurlburt, said, “At one point a doctor said he had a 1 percent chance of living and we said, ‘He’s fighting, he’s been fighting, how many weeks are we going to give him a chance to fight, We. I’m not going to stop any procedures or anything like that”
Based on the current situation, Allard can never drink alcohol or smoke and will need a transplant in his lifetime
According to the GoFundMe page launched by Hurlburt, the last words he said before being intubated were: “I’m scared, I don’t want to be alone.”
The vape-addicted adult and his mother, Jamie, will stay in Minneapolis for at least six months to attend regular checkups at University Hospital
According to Johns Hopkins University research When it comes to vape ingredients, thousands of chemical ingredients in vape products remain unidentified.
But among those identified were several harmful substances, including caffeine, three chemicals never before found in e-cigarettes, a pesticide and two flavorings linked to possible toxic effects and respiratory irritation.
A study from the University of North Carolina also found that the two main ingredients in e-cigarettes, propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin, are toxic to body cells.
“Emerging data suggests links with chronic lung disease and asthma, as well as associations between dual use of e-cigarettes and smoking with cardiovascular disease,” says Dr. Michael Blaha, director of clinical research at the Johns Hopkins Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease, said.
Based on the 2021 National Youth Tobacco Survey, more than two million U.S. high school students reported using e-cigarettes, with more than eight in 10 using flavored e-cigarettes.
The process of receiving a double lung transplant is not without risks.
According to the Mayo Clinicthe human immune system protects the body from foreign substances and even if the patient has the best possible match with the donor, the body will try to attack and reject the new lungs.
To reduce the risk of organ rejection, patients are given immunosuppressive medications that they must take for the rest of their lives.
There is also a risk of infection, kidney damage, osteoporosis and cancer.