At just 14, LeeRay King from New Zealand began vaping after giving in to peer pressure. What started as something he didn’t even like quickly became a heavy habit—he was using up to four disposable vapes a week and vaping all day, every day. By age 16, he had no idea the extent of the damage building inside his lungs.

In August 2024, LeeRay was rushed to the hospital with severe pain in his left side. Tests revealed a pneumothorax—a collapsed lung caused by air leaking into the space between the lung and chest wall. His lung collapsed four more times in the following months, and although doctors attempted procedures to fix it, none were fully successful.

Eventually, surgeons performed a pleurectomy and removed a shriveled, blackened piece of his lung. A shocking photo of the damaged tissue showed the harm his vaping had caused. His mother, horrified by what she saw, said she never imagined vaping—marketed as a safer alternative to smoking—could inflict such harm.

Now recovered, LeeRay is determined to warn others. He speaks at local schools and tells teens not to start vaping, describing the pain and fear he endured as something no young person should ever experience. He vows never to touch a vape again.