After vaping the equivalent of 50 cigarettes daily, this teenager received a ‘shock’ diagnosis.

Jayden Richardson, who started vaping at the age of 12 to ‘fit in,’ saw the consequences of his habit by the time he turned 17.

During a family trip to Turkey last August, Jayden began coughing up blood on the final day. He immediately rushed to the hospital upon returning home.

“I had some chest pain the night before, but I didn’t think much of it. The next morning, I took a quick hit from my vape, and just as I was coughing, it felt like a chesty cough,” Jayden recalled.

As his coughing progressed, he noticed small amounts of blood but didn’t initially think it was too serious.

“But a couple of hours later, after having a few drinks, I decided to get in the swimming pool,” he remembered. However, as soon as he entered the water, he started coughing up “loads of blood” and was quickly pulled out.

He continued, “I rushed to the toilet and was coughing up pints of blood. It was frightening to see, especially at such a young age.”

“It was traumatic. This went on for about 10 minutes, with me coughing up a lot of blood.”

After returning to Birmingham and still coughing up more blood, doctors at the hospital first thought it might be a stomach ulcer.