Belfast mum backs vaping awareness campaign after 12-year-old daughter admitted to ICU
Sarah is now recovering at home but the effects will be long-term
Last updated 9th Oct 2023
A Belfast mum is raising awareness about the potential dangers of vaping among young people after her daughter was recently put into an induced coma in the ICU.
Mary Griffin’s 12-year-old daughter, Sarah, has asthma and was admitted to the Royal Victoria Hospital after not being able to breath despite the use of her inhaler and nebuliser.
The mother is sharing her daughters traumatising experience to raise awareness for Northern Ireland Chest Heart & Stroke’s (NICHS) new vaping campaign.
Mary explains; “It was a Sunday night, Sarah was getting ready for bed and said she didn’t feel great. She started coughing but because Sarah has asthma, we put that down to the change in weather as that has been a trigger for Sarah’s asthma before. Her cough was no different from any other time and she used her inhaler and nebuliser throughout the Sunday night into Monday morning.”
“That morning I was taking my other two children to school when Sarah rang and said, ‘Come back mummy, I don’t feel well, I’m afraid’. I got home, gave Sarah her inhaler and nebuliser again and she seemed to settle. A while later I popped out to the shop quickly and Sarah rang again, this time completely out of breath, barely able to string a sentence together, saying, ‘I need a doctor or to go to hospital’.”
“Her dad immediately took her to the Royal Victoria Hospital. The nurse did Sarah’s vitals, and her oxygen levels were very low. The next thing I knew, Sarah’s dad phoned me to say Sarah was in Resus. I went to the hospital, and Sarah was just in a blind panic, she was terrified. She was on oxygen and was linked up to all sorts of machines. There were medical staff all around her assessing her and they said she needed to go to ICU as she was deteriorating very quickly.”
The doctors explained one of Sarah's lungs had been badly injured resulting in the other ‘working overtime’, aggravating her asthma. Sarah also had an infection.
The doctors in the ICU treated Sarah for four and a half hours before putting her into an induced coma.
Mary added: “There were tubes, wires, and machines everywhere- it was heart-breaking to see her like that.”
She praised the work of the medical team who worked “around the clock” for Sarah but said the journey was still a “difficult” one.
She added: “As her mum I just felt so helpless- it was a nightmare come true. Sarah has an older brother and two younger siblings and trying to explain to them what was happening was awful. They were asking if she was going to die, and I was saying, ‘Of course not’, but in my mind I was terrified that was a real possibility. I had to try and keep it together for them, but I was out of my mind with worry. I never thought something like this would happen to us, you never do.”
““Sarah had machines breathing for her, doing everything for her, and she was very unstable It was really hard for the doctors and nurses to find a balance for Sarah- if they got her oxygen levels sorted, her blood pressure would go down, or if they got something else sorted, another one of her vitals would go in the wrong direction.”
“It felt like one step forward, two steps backwards and that went on for a few days. At first, we really didn’t think Sarah would make it.”
Sarah’s mother explained how the first time the medical team tried to bring Sarah out of the induced coma she was so agitated the doctors decided it was too early and they would have to induce her again.
She said it was “frightening” and “horrible” to see her young daughter so scared.
She added: “They then tried to bring Sarah out of the induced coma again the next day and started removing tubes, reducing her sedation, taking her off the ventilator and slowly brought her back round. At that stage I had some hope Sarah would be ok, but I was preparing myself that she might be in hospital for weeks or even months. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case and Sarah got home after a few days. She is a fighter and was absolutely amazing through everything.”
Sarah’s parents were told that if she hadn’t of been vaping, she would have been in a better position to fight off the infection and that vaping had left her lungs very weak.
The medical staff also warned that if Sarah had arrived at hospital any later the outcome would have been entirely different.
Sarah is now recovering at home but the effects of what happened to her will be long-term.
“It has been a traumatising experience for Sarah. It has traumatised me and it didn’t happen to me. The day she went to hospital Sarah thought she would be admitted, be put on a nebuliser for a while and then go home again. For her to end up in ICU was a terrifying experience and she’s still trying to make sense of it all.” Mary said.
She continued: “For the rest of her life Sarah will be classed as a high-risk patient if she is admitted to hospital because of the effect this has had on her physically. This isn’t a case of a hospital stay and that’s it over with. Sarah was discharged with steroids, new inhalers, and a new Personal Asthma Action Plan to help manage her asthma. She has also been transferred to the care of the Difficult to Control Asthma Clinic at The Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children, when previously her asthma was well controlled, and we just went to the GP about it.”
“Sarah has been left very lethargic. She is usually full of energy, constantly talking and on the go but she is still recovering and isn’t back to her usual self yet. The mental impact has been as big as the physical impact. She has been through such a trauma. She still has a long road ahead of her, but we are just so grateful to have her back home with us.”
Talking of her support for Northern Ireland Chest Heart & Stroke’s new vaping awareness campaign Mary said: “What Sarah has experienced could easily happen to other young people, and we don’t want that which is why we’re sharing our story and supporting NICHS’s vaping campaign. I have seen children as young as 7 and 8 years old vaping which is just horrendous.”
“Sarah hadn’t been vaping heavily but that, coupled with her asthma was such a dangerous combination. Young people are attracted to the bright colours and flavours of vapes- they might smell and taste sweet, but people need to know about the potential dangers associated with them.”
“We want other young people to see the potential impact vaping can have as it will hopefully make them think twice about doing it. The photos of Sarah in ICU are hard to look at, but we think it’s important young people see these and get a better understanding of the possible dangers. Sarah says that if sharing her story helps save another young person and their family going through the same thing, we have then it’s worth doing.”
The NICHS awareness campaign has been launched in response to the misunderstandings around the potential health risks associated and the increase in the number of teenagers using vapes, according to the charity.
The charity is aiming to dispel some of the myths around vaping, such as ‘It’s just flavoured air’, and make people aware of the potential dangers associated with it.
It recommends avoiding the use of vapes other than in a short-term attempt to quit smoking.
The charity also wants to increase the age of sale for vapes, as well as cigarettes, to 21 rather than 18.
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