Ohio Woman Has 2 Liters of ‘Black and Bloody’ Vape Juice Removed from Lungs After Partner Finds Her Unconscious

An Ohio woman says her vape habit landed her in a medically induced coma after doctors had to suction two liters of “black and bloody” fluid from her damaged lungs.

Jordan Brielle, 32, had started smoking in her teens, but in 2021 switched to vaping — and was soon spending up to $500 a week to maintain the habit.

“I was fully addicted,” the Cincinnati woman told Kennedy News and Media, via The Daily Mail. “I was vaping so much that I slept with it, it went to the shower with me. I was vaping an excessive amount.”

She continued this level of vaping for two years until last November, when she said she felt a “heaviness” in her lungs that was first diagnosed as “a respiratory infection.”

“I kept going to the hospital with breathing problems,” the residential care assistant said. “I had a horrible cough and was going to the hospital two or three times a week for help.”

She told the outlet that “it felt like there were 80 lbs. of pressure just laying on my chest,” saying her body was swelling and her skin was turning gray.

However, she says, she still continued to use her vape — until a medical emergency changed her life.

Her partner found her unconscious, she says, with “black mucus coming out of my mouth and my nose.”

“He said I was gasping but couldn’t catch my breath. I was unresponsive and had a faint pulse.”

Brielle shared that her partner called 911 and tried to suction the mucus out of her nose and give her CPR while he waited for paramedics to arrive.

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“I don’t remember anything,” she says. “I was intubated immediately and taken to hospital.’

Brielle said her lungs were full of two liters of fluid, which doctors said was “vape juice” — the liquid the vaporizer converts to aerosol, which is then inhaled. 

“My body was trying to force out the vape juice inside my lungs which was like concrete. It was pure black and bloody. At the hospital, they were sucking it out of me.”

Brielle was placed in a medically induced coma for 11 days, she says, sharing that she was told her lungs were damaged. She still lives with the possibility that they could collapse.

And, she adds, “I’ve been left with a minor brain injury due to lack of oxygen to my brain.”

Now, Brielle says, “I haven’t touched a vape since” the incident. She is sharing her story to warn others to avoid picking up the habit.

“I would say to anyone else quit any way you can. Do it for your health, your family, your life, your lungs — whatever motivates you, use that reason and stop. I wouldn’t wish what I’d been through on anyone else. I feel grateful to be alive.”