LeeRay King started using disposable vapes when he was only 14, and over time his use escalated to the point where he described himself as vaping heavily between the ages of 14 and 16.
Speaking about how it all began, LeeRay, who lives near Wellington, New Zealand, said: “I got kind of peer pressured into vaping.”
“I was heavily vaping from 14 to 16. I went through about four disposables in a week. I would vape all day every day.”
Everything changed in August 2024 when he suddenly experienced severe pain on his left side. After being rushed to the hospital, doctors discovered that the vaping habit he thought was harmless had already caused serious damage to his lungs.
His left lung collapsed four more times in the months that followed, leading surgeons to perform a pleurodesis. This procedure is meant to make the lung stick firmly to the chest wall so it cannot collapse again.
When this failed, doctors had no choice but to carry out another operation called a pleurectomy, removing part of the chest wall lining to try to stabilize the lung.
His mother, Kylee Jope, recalled the moment they saw it for the first time and said: “When we picked it up, LeeRay pulled it out and we were both like ‘oh my god’.”
“It was the damaged piece of the lung that they had removed. We’re actually going to bury it at our house as a native tree. We were shocked.”
Now that LeeRay understands just how much harm vaping caused him, he and his mother are trying to warn others, especially teens who may see vaping as harmless or trendy.
“I actually went and talked to one of the primary schools near where I live. I don’t want them going through what I went through,” he said.
“I’ll never touch a vape again.”
