Amanda Hall: North Carolina woman dies from lung failure after switching from cigarettes to fruity-flavored vape
SANFORD, NORTH CAROLINA: A North Carolina woman has reportedly died after her lungs "shut down" following two decade-long addiction to smoking. Amanda Lee Hall, 44, from the city of Sanford previously quit cigarettes for vaping thinking it was a healthier option. She apparently smoked half a pack of Marlboro a day before switching to e-cigarettes in 2014 due to her rising health issues.
While switching to vaping, Hall would puff on the device so much that her wife Kristen Hensley would joke there was a "fruity cloud" following her wherever she went. It was in the fall of 2019 when the warehouse worker's health condition worsened as she began struggling to breathe and was put in a coma. After waking up, Hall found herself struggling to use her hands along with a paralyzed voice box. She reportedly died a year and a half later. The 44-year-old woman began smoking cigarettes at the age of 14 before continuing it for the next 22 years. She would smoke about 10 Marlboro Lights a day before switching to vaping in 2014 following her lifelong-smoker father's terminal lung condition diagnosis.
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'She vaped nonstop'
Hensley talked about her late wife being a fan of particularly fruity flavors in a vape as well as her constant doses of nicotine. "Almost every picture had her vape pen somewhere in it. She vaped nonstop. I joked that she had a fruity cloud with her everywhere she went. She would take it to the movie theater or anywhere. When I would complain, she would say that it was just vapor and she was just getting some low doses of nicotine that helped calm her nerves," she told the Daily Mail.
Hall was diagnosed with bronchitis
Hall apparently vaped constantly for five years before she began struggling to breathe in September 2019. She was diagnosed with bronchitis and given antibiotics in the same year. However, when the breathing problems did not cease, she was rushed to the ER in 2020. The test results showed her blood oxygen level is 65, compared to a normal range for people of 95 to 100. Doctors then put her in an induced coma and on a ventilator to let her lungs "recover" due to her breathing issues. She spent 10 days on the ventilator before being moved back to a rehabilitation clinic. Doctors believed that her lung injury was a result of vaping. "Doctors believed she suffered the initial lung injury from vaping. The entire first hospitalization was due to the vaping injury. After that, they believe she had a previously undiagnosed autoimmune disorder that once her lungs were injured launched a full-out attack on them believing them to be the enemy," Hall's widow Hensley said.
Doctors declared that Hall would not survive
Hall was diagnosed with interstitial lung disease, a condition where an attack by white blood cells leads to inflammation and scarring in the organ. While she stopped vaping immediately after the first hospitalization, her struggle with lung problems went on. According to the media outlet, Hall was again hospitalized in February 2020 for double pneumonia, and once again in December 2020 after she woke up to find she had turned blue and could "barely stand up." Hall was rushed to the hospital where she was the longest "on the ventilator from December 30, 2020, to February 4, 2021." Her blood oxygen levels were in the 50s. Moreover, the doctors declared that Hall was not going to make a recovery. Her cause of death was primarily recorded as post-tracheostomy bleeding. They also recorded secondary causes of staphylococcal pneumonia and interstitial lung disease.
Hensley has reportedly developed post-traumatic stress disorder and is struggling with nightmares following Hall's death. Hall's sister, Angela, 48, is also struggling to regain her normal life. She has created a GoFundMe to help cover hospital bills, which has raised $2,080 (USD), out of $5,000 (USD).