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 suffering from Influenza 4 and double pneumonia which had impacted his lungs and oxygen levels.
The young adult had been intubated to give his lungs a chance to heal but his condition kept deteriorating and doctors were forced to place him on an ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) machine.
Ultimately, multiple doctors advised Allard to have a double lung transplant to survive.
Jackson Allard, 22, was found suffering from Influenza 4 and double pneumonia due to vaping. He had to have a double lung transplant to survive
The young adult had been intubated to give his lungs a chance to heal but his condition kept deteriorating 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 fought for how many weeks we’re going to give him a chance to fight, we’re not going to stop any procedures or anything.”‘
‘He’s just friendly, he’s outgoing, everybody’s just attracted to his energy and how much fun he is.
‘I thought for sure we were going to lose him. I thought for sure he’s not going to survive this, but in my mind I kept picturing him coming home.
‘You have to stop vaping, and we kept telling him that over and 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 in 50 years you’ll have lung cancer, in five years, if you vape they will see you with permanent lung damage.’
The vape-addicted adult and his mother, Jamie, will be staying in Minneapolis for at least six months to attend regular check-ups at the university hospital.
Based on the current situation, Allard can never drink alcohol or smoke and will need another transplant in his life.
According to the GoFundMe page launched by Hurlburt, the last words he said before being intubated were: ‘I am 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 fought for how many weeks we’re going to give him a chance to fight, we’re not going to stop any procedures or anything”
Based on the current situation, Allard can never drink alcohol or smoke and will need another transplant in his life
According to the GoFundMe page launched by Hurlburt, the last words he said before being intubated were: ‘I am scared, I don’t want to be alone’
The vape-addicted adult and his mother, Jamie will be staying in Minneapolis for at least six months to attend regular check-ups at the university hospital
According to Johns Hopkins University research on vape ingredients, thousands of chemical ingredients in vape products have not been identified.
But among those identified, several were harmful substances, including caffeine, three chemicals never previously found in e-cigarettes, a pesticide and two flavorings linked with possible toxic effects and respiratory irritation.
A University of North Carolina study also found that the two primary ingredients found in e-cigarettes, propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin, are toxic to body cells.
‘Emerging data suggests links to chronic lung disease and asthma, as well as associations between dual use of e-cigarettes and smoking with cardiovascular disease,’ 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, over two million American middle and high school students reported using e-cigarettes, with more than eight in 10 using flavored e-cigarettes.
The process of getting a double lung transplant is not without its own risks.
According to the Mayo Clinic, the human immune system protects the body against foreign substances and even if the patients has the best possible match with the donor, the body will try to attack and reject the new lungs.
To decrease the risk of organ rejection, patients are given immunosuppressant medications which they need to consume for the rest of their life.
A risk of infection, kidney damage, osteoporosis and cancer also exist.
