A 22-year-old man's final words before being put into an induced coma have been revealed after his vaping addiction left him with just a 1% chance of survival.
Jackson Allard, from North Dakota, was admitted to the University of Minnesota Medical Center in October last year after he began experiencing stomach pains and low oxygen levels.
His condition took a turn for the worse after tests discovered that he was suffering from influenza 4 and pneumonia, which had taken a detrimental effect on his lungs and ability to breathe.
Doctors decided to intubate him in order to give his body the best chance to heal, and it was later decided that he would need a double lung transplant if he were to have any chance of survival.
Jackson's friends and family opened up about how his life changed "overnight" after having been a heavy vaper.
His grandmother, Doreen Hurlburt, told Valley News Live that the family had begged him to quit vaping before he got ill, explaining: "'You have to stop vaping', and we kept telling him that over and over and over again, and he was a heavy vaper. He vaped all the time, but he said, 'It’s better than cigarettes.'
"Well they said, with cigarettes in 50 years you’ll have lung cancer, in five years, if you vape they will see you with permanent lung damage."
Jackson's condition was so serious that doctors warned that his chances of survival were extremely slim, as Doreen added: "At one point, a doctor said he had a one percent chance of living and we said, 'He's fighting, he's fought for how many weeks we're going to give him a chance to fight, we're not going to stop any procedures or anything.'
"I thought for sure we were going to lose him. I thought for sure he’s not going to survive this, but in my mind I kept picturing him coming home."
Jackson was placed into an induced coma so he could be intubated, and his family revealed the heartbreaking last words he said to them before being put under.
He told his family: "I am scared, I don’t want to be alone."
They revealed in a GoFundMe page that has been set up to help with Jackson's medical costs and for "extra support" towards his recovery: "He has not been alone. By his side is his mother Jaime, grandmother Doreen and/or his father Ryan.
"Someone is always there and will be until he is ready to come home. Because we are holding on strong to hope he will make it home."
Jackson underwent a double lung transplant and Valley News Live reports that his heart even stopped beating at one stage during the last three months he has spent fighting for his life in hospital.
He will stay in Minneapolis for at least six months further in order to get regular check-ups, and it is believed that he will never be able to drink alcohol or smoke again in his life. He is also likely to need another lung transplant at some point in his life.
While Jackson is thankfully now on the long road to recovery, Doreen revealed that he wants to "make sure other people don’t do what he did" and encourages others to avoid vaping so they won't have to "go through what he went through."
While vaping is widely considered less harmful than smoking tobacco, Dr. Stephanie Hanson at Sanford added to the outlet that as vaping and e-cigarette use is relatively new, the long-term effects of it on a person's health are still unknown, admitting: "That’s honestly one of the scariest things about it."
Our thoughts are with Jackson and his family amid his continuing recovery.
