A 12-year-old girl from Northern Ireland who was reportedly in a coma for three days is now considered high-risk for the rest of her life after suffering severe lung damage while smoking.
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“There were hoses, wires and machines everywhere – it broke my heart to see them like that. As a mother, I felt so helpless – it was a nightmare come true,” Mary Griffin, the girl’s mother, said in an interview with The Independent on Monday.
Little Sarah, who suffers from asthma, began coughing uncontrollably as she fell asleep one evening, but neither her inhaler nor her nebulizer seemed to be working, the British newspaper reported.
The next day her condition deteriorated to the point that her father took her to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast, where she spent a few hours in intensive care before falling into a coma due to extremely low oxygen levels.
Then doctors discovered a serious infection in one of his severely damaged lungs, forcing the other organ to do double work to catch up.
However, according to her doctors, the young patient would have been in a much better position to fight the infection if, despite her young age, she had not previously damaged her lungs through vaping.
“The biggest misconception about e-cigarettes is that they are harmless compared to cigarettes. This is not true and this message needs to change to prevent more young people becoming addicted to vaping because they think it is safe,” said Fidelma Carter, head of public health at Northern Ireland Chest. Heart & Stroke (NICHS), on The Independent.
Today Sarah Griffin has emerged from her coma, but she is far from out of the woods, while the young girl who was once “full of life” still suffers from lethargy. She, too, will be considered a high-risk patient for the rest of her life, her mother said.
“She went through such trauma. She still has a long way to go, but we are very grateful to have her back home with us,” her mother concluded, according to The Independent.