My Son's Story

by Laurieann, a Concerned Parent

I cannot even begin to express the damage that vaping has caused my family.

As a single mom I was happy when my son went off to college last year.It was very difficult and scary to let him go but I wanted him to strive to reach his goals and help him make his dreams come true. He was nervous at first but excited when he found the perfect roommate.

He had suffered from anxiety for years and now he felt he found his wonderful place and the perfect roommate.

Sadly, his "perfect" roommate was addicted to vaping and introduced my son to it. My son (then 18) said it only took one puff of the Vape made by Juul with nicotine and menthol flavor to become hooked. He said it relaxed him made him forget his anxiety or any doubts and before he knew it he was addicted and buying and doing as many pods as he could every day.

It took only a month to start showing symptoms. He called me to tell me he thought he had the flu. One month after that he called me to tell me he was having chest pain. I chalked it up as anxiety. It only got worse until I finally persisted and got him checked and also discovered that he was addicted to vaping. He was afraid to tell me.

Now our lives have become doctor visits, breathing medications and a diagnoses of a ground glass nodule. on his right lung.

We just had a doctor’s appointment the other day where we learned he has bronchitis and it cannot be treated as bronchitis. It has to be treated as a vaping issue.

Every day I live in fear and so does my son. The doctors say they don’t know what will happen or if he will have a permanent breathing issue or if things could get worse. It’s “deadly” they said.

This was not THC - it was nicotine, menthol flavor.

Our lives have been changed forever. Once a life of hope and dreams has now become a life of worry, concern and fear. All vaping materials should be banned immediately, not a day, a month or a year from now. It takes only a moment to cause death or a lifetime of damage.

Please help our children. Stop the vaping madness. Stop allowing big money companies to abuse our children using marketing techniques. Regulate and protect our children. There is no time to waste.