A Las Vegas teenager began vaping to get closer to a crush but ended up developing a severe bacterial infection that led to a near-fatal bout of sepsis.
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Sixteen-year-old Isabella Troncao revealed she started using marijuana vapes 18 months ago in an attempt to “impress” a boy she liked, per The Daily Mail. However, just a week after transitioning to nicotine vapes, she began experiencing symptoms of illness.Â
“They would make my throat burn,” Troncao recalled.
What started as a simple sore throat quickly escalated into a serious lung infection.
“It felt like there was a 50-pound weight on the left side of my chest. I was in so much pain, it was like I wanted to breathe, but I couldn’t take a full breath in,” she added.
She described her condition, saying, “I couldn’t get up to go to the bathroom, and I couldn’t stay awake.” Her mother, Francesca, and her brother had to assist her in getting to the car for the trip to the hospital. “I couldn’t walk,” she explained.
Doctors Tell the Teen and Her Family She Has Sepsis… and Allegedly Blame Vaping
At the hospital, doctors informed her family that she was in septic shock—a life-threatening condition caused by the body’s severe and improper response to an infection.
”It had spread all over my body, which was shutting down,” the teen recalled. “They told me that if I had come in a few hours later that day, I would have died. I was definitely close to death, so that’s crazy to think about.”
The teenager developed Lemierre’s syndrome, a severe throat infection that spread to her jugular vein and led to sepsis. She spent a month in the hospital, where doctors drained fluid from her lungs. They linked the infection to bacterial buildup caused by vaping.
“I found the vape in her pocket [at the hospital]. She was too scared to tell me where she got it from,” her mom recalled. “ She was dating a new boy and she was smoking with him.”
“We all do stupid things, but they’re marketing these vapes with fruity flavors and fancy colors — they’re worse than cigarettes,” her mother added. “The worst feeling was having someone say they don’t know if she’s going to make it. That was really hard.”
Meanwhile, Troncao seems to have learned a life lesson after the ordeal.
“It definitely feels like I’ve been given a second chance at life,” the teen told the outlet.
“I felt like it was a sign of God that I was meant to stay on this earth for a reason. It’s crazy to think I would have missed it in that small time window,” she added.
“It’s a strain on your lungs and it’s making lots of people sick,” the teen insisted. “Nobody should vape.”