New Lenox Teen Hospitalized From Vaping, Parents Call For Change

NEW LENOX, IL — A New Lenox teenager who headed off to college recently wound up fighting for her life in the hospital for several days after vaping, her mother, Ruby Johnson, shared on Facebook. In Johnson's Facebook post, shared more than 545,000 times, she said her family was headed to Colorado to drop off their daughter, Piper, at college, when Piper complained of feeling ill.

"As we began our drive, Piper was coughing and mentioned that it hurt to take a deep breath," Johnson shared on Facebook. She said she didn't think much of it and thought they could always stop at a clinic on the road if need be.

The family made it to Greeley, Colorado, where Piper was slated to attend the University of Northern Colorado, and headed to the hospital.

"We seriously thought this would be a quick visit, that she possibly had bronchitis and she'd be fixed up quick and moving into her dorm the next day," Johnson said. "That isn't at all what happened."

According to the Facebook post, doctors believed Piper had "early pneumonia," despite a clear chest X-ray. Piper still didn't feel well and was sent to the ER the next morning. Johnson said a CT scan then showed "diffuse pneumonia," meaning it was not just contained to one lobe of the lungs, but all over. Doctors also struggled to get a pulse oxygen reading in the 90s.

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Johnson said Piper was admitted to the hospital, and the family knew they weren't going to be leaving that day.

"They put [Piper] on oxygen, which we watched climb from 1 to 2 to 3 to 8 to 9 to 11 liters," Johnson said. "At the worst point, she was getting 35 liters of oxygen..."

Johnson said her daughter was getting IV fluids, antibiotics, pain meds, anti-nausea meds and a diuretic to help clear the fluid from her lungs. Piper also kept needing more and more oxygen, and she eventually transferred to a room on the ICU floor of the hospital.

"She became Colorado's first confirmed case of what was called a 'sudden and severe lung illness due to vaping,'" Johnson said.

After a week-long stay, Piper was released from the hospital, and is expected to make a full recovery.

"She's also 100 percent owning her choices and has asked me to share her story so that other teenagers can hopefully make other choices," Johnson said.

Ruby and Tim Johnson are now demanding change to the vaping industry. The parents also held a news conference with media last week, and called for more regulation from the FDA.

"...we are failing our kids here," Ruby wrote in her Facebook post. "They are being wooed by an industry that has zero regard for their safety and health and the departments that are designed to protect them are not doing it. Nobody is going to protect them if we don't."

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In Illinois, three people have died related to a respiratory illness linked to vaping. US Senator Dick Durbin is also calling for the FDA to take action to "properly regulate e-cigarettes and the accompanying kid-friendly flavors and products." Durbin also believes a letter should be sent to all schools in America, warning of the health consequences of vaping.

Durbin's "asking each school to ensure this message is conveyed to parents and students alike; immediately ban all e-cigarette flavors other than tobacco; and immediately ban all e-cigarette devices that have not been approved for sale by the FDA, and ensure their immediate removal from stores nationwide."

Read Johnson's full Facebook post: