In a heartfelt plea, a mother who lost her son to vaping is warning others about the dangers, emphasizing that the risks go beyond just harming the lungs. Danny Clark from Chester, Pennsylvania, died at age 34 on December 12 last year, following a year of vaping.
Danny’s transition to vaping in October 2023 was influenced by his girlfriend’s dislike of cigarette smoke and the common belief that vaping is a “safer option.” Previously, he had been smoking about a pack of cigarettes daily.
However, by the end of 2024, Danny’s mother, Cindi, was devastated when her older son called to inform her of Danny’s sudden death. The family was left with the knowledge that Danny had simply “went to bed and he didn’t wake up.”
The night before his passing, Danny’s girlfriend reported to Cindi that he exhibited slurred speech and poor balance. His family initially suspected alcohol consumption, but an autopsy confirmed that Danny’s organs were in good condition.
The investigation concluded that Danny’s death was due to sudden cardiac arrest, attributed to elements in the vapes he used.
Despite having smoked for much of his life, Danny’s lungs appeared relatively healthy, and he did not suffer from breathing problems or popcorn lung due to vaping. However, the medical examiner questioned Danny’s girlfriend about the strength and frequency of his vape usage.
Cindi recounted, “His girlfriend said that he would have it on the nightstand next to him when he went to bed so if he woke up [in the night] he would vape.”
The examiner found that Danny had nicotine levels in his body three times higher than normal, leading to nicotine poisoning.
Cindi explained, “The impairment that he was showing [before he died], were all signs of the nicotine being so high in the bloodstream that it started impairing his nervous system – he was slurring his speech, and he was having trouble with balance and coordination. Ultimately he went to bed and it caused a heart attack.”
Cindi is now striving to spread awareness to prevent similar tragedies from affecting other families.
Reflecting on the loss, Cindi shared that it feels as if her family was “cheated” since Danny believed “vaping was the healthier option.” She remarked, “He would have been so p***ed off [if he knew it would kill him] and I felt the same way.”
Cindi pointed out the highly addictive nature of nicotine in vapes, which she believes surpasses cigarettes. She argued that anything unnatural entering the body poses a risk.
Cindi voiced her concern that “the risks [of vaping] are not spelled out as quickly as they should be,” highlighting the lack of regulation regarding the nicotine concentration in vaping devices. “There’s no regulation on that at all so people are basically just getting addicted to this thing and it’s toxic, and they can just keep putting more and more and more in their system without any idea of what’s happening as a result of it.”
While lung issues related to vaping have been reported in the media, Cindi aims to increase awareness of nicotine poisoning and advocates for stricter regulations. She concluded, “It’s a false sense of security – people think they’re not coughing, or they don’t have pain in their chest, but people don’t know what’s happening in other areas. […] Something needs to be done about it. It can’t keep going on like this.”