For decades, cigarettes have been viewed as one of the most harmful habits people could pick up. They’ve been linked to countless health problems and the loss of millions of lives worldwide. In the past 15 years, vaping entered the scene as a supposed healthier alternative. Instead of inhaling tobacco smoke, users take in vapor infused with nicotine or THC. At first, it was marketed as the “miracle substitute” that would help society move away from traditional cigarettes. But as time has shown, vaping comes with serious risks of its own.
One man from Buffalo, New York, is now sharing his terrifying story as a warning for others. Raymond Dehn, now 24, admitted he started vaping at just 15 years old. A local shop never checked his ID, making it easy for him to develop the habit while still a teenager. What started as nicotine eventually expanded into cannabis vape pens, locking him into a routine that lasted almost a decade. He thought he was just following the trend, like so many others, but that choice nearly cost him his life.
On September 13, after finishing work, Dehn was sitting in his car taking hits from his vape and THC pen. At first, nothing felt out of the ordinary—until it did. “I remember coughing, which isn’t abnormal,” he recalled. “But then this searing pain hit both my shoulder blades and just wouldn’t go away.” The pain grew so intense that he struggled to keep walking as he and his friends headed toward the mall. “I was holding in screams,” he admitted. Just a minute later, he collapsed in the middle of the shopping center.
An ambulance rushed him to the hospital, where doctors quickly performed an X-ray. The results stunned him: one of his lungs had collapsed. Dehn described the shock of hearing the news. “I was honestly so shocked. It was so scary to think I suddenly had a broken lung, especially being so young and healthy.” He spent four nights in the hospital with a tube inserted into his chest to help reinflate his lung. For someone who had been vaping for nearly a decade without major issues, the sudden crisis was a wake-up call he couldn’t ignore.
What frightened him most was the lack of a clear answer from doctors. His physician couldn’t pinpoint an exact reason for the collapse but did note she had seen several similar cases among young patients recently. “She said there were three or four other young people in the past six months with the same issue,” Dehn shared. “The only common denominator between all of us was that we vaped.”
That realization was enough to change his life. Since leaving the hospital, Dehn has quit vaping completely. He now feels compelled to speak out, hoping his story can prevent others from going through what he endured. “Every few minutes I get this overwhelming fear it’ll happen again,” he admitted. “The whole experience has stuck with me in such a big way. It’s why I want to advocate so strongly for other young people to be aware.”
While many experts agree that vaping is less harmful than smoking cigarettes, that’s hardly a ringing endorsement. Research shows vaping can still damage the lungs, irritate the airways, and create long-term risks we may not fully understand yet. For Dehn, it was the final straw. After nearly losing his life, he’s urging people—especially teens and young adults—to think twice before picking up a vape.
His message is simple: the risks are real, and they can strike without warning. What might seem like just another puff could end in an ambulance ride, a hospital stay, or worse. Dehn hopes his story will be a wake-up call in a culture where vaping is still often seen as harmless.
