Belfast mum Mary Griffin backs vaping awareness campaign after daughter, 12, admitted to Intensive Care Unit

Mary Griffin and her daughter Sarah, who is 12, understand the dangers associated with vaping all too well and are speaking out about their experiences in support of a new vaping awareness campaign by Northern Ireland Chest Heart & Stroke (NICHS) amid concerns about the number of young people choosing to vape and the misconceptions often associated with vaping.

Mary said: “It was a Sunday night, Sarah was getting ready for bed and said she didn’t feel great. She started coughing but because Sarah has asthma, we put that down to the change in weather as that has been a trigger for Sarah’s asthma before. Her cough was no different from any other time and she used her inhaler and nebuliser throughout the Sunday night into Monday morning.

“That morning I was taking my other two children to school when Sarah rang and said, ‘Come back mummy, I don’t feel well, I’m afraid’. I got home, gave Sarah her inhaler and nebuliser again and she seemed to settle. A while later I popped out to the shop quickly and Sarah rang again, this time completely out of breath, barely able to string a sentence together, saying, ‘I need a doctor or to go to hospital’.

“Her dad immediately took her to the Royal Victoria Hospital. The nurse did Sarah’s vitals, and her oxygen levels were very low. The next thing I knew, Sarah’s dad phoned me to say Sarah was in Resus. I went to the hospital, and Sarah was just in a blind panic, she was terrified. She was on oxygen and was linked up to all sorts of machines. There were medical staff all around her assessing her and they said she needed to go to ICU as she was deteriorating very quickly.”

Mary added: “The doctor showed me an X-ray of Sarah’s lungs and explained one had been badly injured. The other was therefore working overtime and aggravating her asthma. Sarah also had an infection, so everything combined had a massive impact on her body, extremely quickly. When we got to ICU the team worked on Sarah for four and a half hours before having to put her into an induced coma. There were tubes, wires, and machines everywhere- it was heart-breaking to see her like that. As her mum I just felt so helpless - it was a nightmare come true. Sarah has an older brother and two younger siblings and trying to explain to them what was happening was awful. They were asking if she was going to die, and I was saying, ‘Of course not’, but in my mind I was terrified that was a real possibility."

Mary added: “Sarah had machines breathing for her, doing everything for her, and she was very unstable. At first, we really didn’t think Sarah would make it. The first time the team tried to bring Sarah out of the induced coma she was so agitated the doctors decided it was too early and they would have to induce her again. They then tried to bring Sarah out of the induced coma again the next day and started removing tubes, reducing her sedation, taking her off the ventilator and slowly brought her back round. At that stage I had some hope Sarah would be ok, but I was preparing myself that she might be in hospital for weeks or even months. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case and Sarah got home after a few days. She is a fighter and was absolutely amazing through everything.”

With Sarah stabilised the doctors were able to explain to Mary what had happened and how at risk her daughter had been.

“Vaping had left her lungs very weak. The doctors said if Sarah had of got to hospital any later the outcome would have been entirely different. That is something I can’t even think about."

Thankfully Sarah is now recovering at home but the effects of what happened to her will unfortunately be long-term.

Mary said: “For the rest of her life Sarah will be classed as a high-risk patient if she is admitted to hospital because of the effect this has had on her physically. Sarah was discharged with steroids, new inhalers, and a new Personal Asthma Action Plan to help manage her asthma. She has also been transferred to the care of the Difficult to Control Asthma Clinic at The Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children, when previously her asthma was well controlled, and we just went to the GP about it. Sarah has been left very lethargic. The mental impact has been as big as the physical impact. She has been through such a trauma. She still has a long road ahead of her, but we are just so grateful to have her back home with us.”

Mary added: “What Sarah has experienced could easily happen to other young people, and we don’t want that which is why we’re sharing our story and supporting NICHS’s vaping campaign. I have seen children as young as 7 and 8 years old vaping which is just horrendous.”

Fidelma Carter, head of Public Health at NICHS said: “Through our campaign we want to dispel some of the myths around vaping, such as ‘It’s just flavoured air’, and make people aware of the potential dangers associated with it. People may be surprised to learn for example that vapes can contain the same harmful chemicals found in cleaning products, nail polish remover and weed killer. Also, one 20mg disposable vape can have as much as 20 cigarettes worth of nicotine in it.”

The NICHS is also campaigning to increase the sale for vapes, as well as cigarettes, to 21 rather than 18 which is currently the case. For further information and support about vaping visit, https://nichs.org.uk/vaping