Wisconsin Vaping Victims

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Thread for WI vaping victims, including THC users who bought street drugs like Dank Vapes.

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Wisconsin teenager in ICU with severe lung damage after vaping

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by WITI via CNN Newsource

Friday, July 26th 2019

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( WITI, Tribune, family photos via CNN Newsource)

WAUWATOSA, WI -- A Wisconsin teen is in an intensive care unit with severe lung damage and his family thinks it was caused by vaping.

 

Patrick Degrave's brother went to Aurora Memorial Hospital in Burlington after he was having issues breathing.

At first doctors thought it might be pneumonia, but soon realized it was something else.

"These vapes can cost you your life,” Degrave said. "Within 24 hours he was being medically sedated and being put in a medically induced coma."

Degrave says his brother bought the vape vials off the street.

His warning comes on the same day as doctors at Children's Hospital in Wauwatosa issued a similar alert.

"Vaping in teenagers is something that's harming our kids and we want that to be loud and clear,” said Children’s Hospital Chief Medical Officer Mike Gutzeit.

They treated eight patients in just four weeks with severe lung damage. All had the common thread of vaping.

"We don't have lot of information about the long-term effects and sometimes even the short-term effects,” Gutzeit said.

Degrave isn't sure what's next for his brother, but he doesn't want someone else to make the same mistakes.

"It's wait and see. We're uncertain right now if he'll ever fully recover from this,” Degrave said.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services says that it is investigating the cases.

https://wgme.com/news/nation-world/wisconsin-teenager-in-icu-with-severe-lung-damage-after-vaping

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Cadott mother shares sons near-death experience vaping black market cartridge

• 5:44 pm
• October 7, 2019

• Chippewa County (WQOW) – The effects of vaping are still unknown, but it has been linked to countless hospitalizations and deaths across the country.

A Cadott mom is speaking out after she said her son, Devyn McCormick, was hospitalized after using a black market cartridge that almost killed him.

“It was one of the most terrifying times of my life,” said Tiffanie Janzen, Devyn’s mom.

On Oct. 2, Tiffanie Janzen got a phone call no parent ever wants. Her son had been found unresponsive at a friend’s home in Lake Wissota, foaming in the mouth.

“I got there and the ambulances and the cops and everybody was still there just getting him stabilized,” Janzen said. “They had to intubate him on the scene.”

McCormick was transported to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Chippewa Falls, where his family rallied behind him, hoping they’d see him responsive again.

But what made him so sick, they wouldn’t know until later.

Janzen said her son was given multiple doses of Narcan which didn’t help him. He ended up on a ventilator for 22 hours and was unresponsive for five to six hours.

The toxicology report couldn’t find anything in his system except marijuana, and his blood-alcohol level only came in at .01.

Later one of McCormick’s friends told Janzen he might have inhaled a “cart” which is used for vaping.

The bad news got worse, when Janzen found out her son had bought it on the black market, meaning the family will likely never know what was really in it.

“As more and more friends showed up they all said the same thing, that these are going around,” Janzen said. “They are making people sick, they are killing people. These are killing our children, our neighbors, our friends.”

Janzen said she wasn’t sure if her son would ever open his eyes again, and neither did his friends, that came out in masses to say goodbye.

“Normally the ICU, I know does not allow so many people but I think that was the nurse’s way of saying he may not make it out of this and if people need to come say goodbye then that’s what they allowed to happen,” Janzen said.

Luckily, Devyn’s condition took a turn upwards, and after being in the hospital for almost 48 hours, he was stable enough to go home and recover.

Janzen said after almost losing her son, she wants her son’s story to send a message to never buy anything from the black market.

“Talk to your kids,” Janzen said. “Talk to your adult kids, talk to your friends talk to your families. Make sure that people know that this is out there.”

Janzen said there is an on-going investigation in Chippewa Falls regarding the black market cartridge her son used.

News 18 did reach out to the Chippewa County Sheriff, but we have not yet heard back.

https://wqow.com/news/2019/10/07/cadott-mother-shares-sons-near-death-experience-vaping-black-market-cartridge/

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HEALTH

Teen E-Cig User Talks About Near-Death Ex­pe­rience

BY KATHRYN LARSON MADISON
PUBLISHED 10:19 PM ET OCT. 03, 2019

MADISON, Wis. (SPECTRUM NEWS) - A Fort Atkinson teen, lucky to be alive, after an e-cig scare.  

Logan Krahn’s lungs filled with fluid and nearly failed two weeks ago. He became UW Health’s American Family Children’s Hospital’s first pediatric ICU vaping case.

“While quitting might seem difficult, going through this is far worse,” Logan said about the terrible ordeal.

Pediatric Pulmonologist Dr. Vivek Balasubramarniam says the hospital has had at least 10 cases of pediatric E-cig injuries. He calls it a health crisis.  

“Cigarettes cause you to slowly die over time. These instances of vaping related injuries causing deaths now,” Dr. Balasubramarniam said.

Luckily for Logan, he is on a steroid with a hopeful prognosis. 

Doctors are hopeful he can resume normal activity in a year, but say this was a close call and urge anyone currently using the devices to stop.  

https://spectrumnews1.com/wi/madison/health/2019/10/04/teen-e-cig-user-talks-about-near-death-experience