Ricky's Story

by a Concerned Parent

My son Ricky and I were out to dinner one Tuesday night, talking, laughing, and enjoying our time together. As I sat listening to one of his stories, I was reminded of all the hard work that he had been doing lately to make his life better. He was making better choices, working hard at his full time job, considering applying to a trade school, and for the first time in about 8 years, I saw my son happy and hopeful for the future. Tears filled my eyes. I was so proud of my son.

On the way home from the restaurant, Ricky complained of a stomach ache. Once we got home, he started vomiting and had diarrhea. I thought maybe it was food poisoning, but we had eaten the same meal and I felt fine. I thought maybe it was the flu and he would just need to ride it out. I checked on him during the night and he was still vomiting. Ricky proceeded to vomit for the next 5 days. It wasn’t every once in a while either. It was every 30 - 45 minutes. By the second day, he was feverish and sweaty. I told him he needed to see the doctor, so he called and made an appointment. The doctor he saw that afternoon said it was just a flu and he would need to ride it out. In the afternoon of the third day, when he still showed no signs of improving, I suggested he go to the doctor again. Ricky hates hospitals and refused to go. I convinced him to at least call and talk to a doctor over the phone. That doctor also said it was just a flu and he would need to just go through it. In the afternoon of the 4th day, after showing no improvement and progressively getting worse, he agreed to go to the ER.

Once we were in the ER, they proceeded to do numerous tests, x-rays, and CAT scans. Everything was coming back negative. His chest x-ray was clear. They were giving him an extremely high dosage of anti-nausea medication and he was still vomiting. They decided to keep him overnight because they could not figure out what was wrong with him. I visited him the next day and he was still feeling horrible. The vomiting continued, as did the sweats, fever, and towards the end of the day he developed some mild chest pain. As I was getting ready to leave that night, Ricky asked me to come back early in the morning. He said he felt better when I was there. I agreed to be back early and then went home to get some sleep. At 3:00 Monday morning I received a call from one of the nurses caring for Ricky. He was unable to breath on his own and they were rushing him down to ICU so they could intubate him. I rushed over and was able to see him before they sedated him. I told my son, “Here’s what is going to happen. You are going to go to sleep, the doctors will give you medicine, your body is going to heal itself, and you’re going to come back to me. Do you understand?” He nodded yes and then I had to leave the room. The next time I saw him, he had tubes and wires all over his body and face. There is nothing that prepares you to see your child in this condition. I put my head on his hand and cried.

When I saw the doctor, she told me that my son was a very sick young man. I asked her “How sick? Lik, “Call friends and family in from out of town kind of sick?” She replied, “I would.” I called his sister who goes to college in Arizona and his best friends who are in college in Southern California. They were all by his bedside that night. The images of each of them coming into his hospital room for the first time will forever be etched in my memory. His best friends were inconsolable and had to leave the room. His sister fell into my arms and sobbed. The grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins came to see him. We sat by his bedside, told stories of fun times, laughed, cried, and prayed for him to get better.

After he was intubated, they took another x-ray of his chest. It was cloudy and they said he had acute respiratory failure. In one and a half days, he went from a clear chest x-ray to a cloudy one and in respiratory failure. The doctors had him on 3 different antibiotics and he was still not getting better. In fact, he was getting worse. They were still conducting blood

tests but all tests were coming back negative. His sister mentioned to the doctors that Ricky vaped and the doctors took note of that. After talking with the doctors, we realized they didn’t know what was wrong with him. His sister and I decided to do some research. A friend of mine sent me an article about a mom whose daughter had gone through the same thing in Colorado. In the story they mentioned that steroids were given to the young girl and she had recovered. We brought this to our doctor’s attention and after an hour or two, they decided to try steroids.

After a few hours on the steroids, the doctor told us that he was improving. A group of friends and family were out in the hallway so I went to tell them of Ricky’s improving condition. We cheered together, cried together, and simply rejoiced in the fact that our son/brother/friend/grandson/nephew/cousin was on the mend. He was still intubated, paralyzed, and in a medically induced coma, but his vitals were improving. Over the next couple of days the doctors were able to take him off of the paralytic, remove the tubes from his throat, and took him off of all sedation. My son, my first born, gradually woke up. When we heard his voice again we all cried.

Ricky was in the hospital for a total of 10 days. When he came home, he was 30 lbs lighter (and he was a skinny kid to begin with). His lungs still hurt in the cool mornings, when he coughed and when he sneezed, but he was home. When he found out that vaping was the cause of everything he went through, he vowed he would never touch it again.

It has been a struggle for him these past 2 1⁄2 months. Trying to recover from everything he went through took a toll on him physically, mentally, and emotionally. It also took a huge toll on me, his sister, his best friends, and the rest of our immediate family. Ricky and I have had many rich and in-depth conversations about everything that happened. The one thing that has him baffled is why would people purposefully make a product that targets and harms children? And why isn’t our country’s leaders doing more to stop this crisis? I have taught my children that when you go through a difficult situation, you use the knowledge you gain from those experiences to help others. Ricky, his sister, and I have all spoken out publicly to warn other parents, teenagers, and the general public about the dangers of vaping. Someone needs to do it and I am immensely proud of my children for having the strength and courage to do so.