A DAD feared his teen son would die when a vape he was sneakily smoking with his pals exploded and blew apart his hands – leading to him having amputations.
Aiden Dean Adams was vaping at a overpass near his home last month when the device blew up in his hand – leaving him with horrific “explosion” injuries.
His dad Robert was shocked when a stranger dropped his son home and saw that his thumb was “almost completely severed off” and his hand had turned “blue inside out”.
The 15-year-old was immediately rushed to hospital for emergency surgery to stitch up his hand and doctors managed to save his severed thumb.
But he had to have part of his index and middle fingertips amputated.
Having first caught his child vaping aged 10, the dad claims he’s tried “everything” to curb his son’s addiction but it hasn’t stopped him from doing it “constantly everyday”‘.
Horrific pictures show the “huge burn holes” in Aiden’s T-shirt from where the e-cig exploded and blood splattered on his jeans.
Other photos show the schoolboy in hospital with shrapnel peppering his face.
The 48-year-old now wants to educate people on the “shocking” dangers of disposable vapes.
Robert, from Bakersfield, California, US, said: “It’s one of my worst nightmares come true. It could have been life or death.
“We know there’s a possibility he’s going to go out and vape. We search him, we search his room when he comes home. He knows he’s not allowed.
“We don’t want him doing it. But I’m not ignorant – he’s a teenager.
“That was not a concern in our mind that he was going to vape.
“Usually if he’s wanting to get out of the house to vape he’s kind of sketchy about it but he was in a good mood.
“He said nothing out of the ordinary. Me and mum were in the house cooking.
“Next thing you know there was a knock on the door. It was a stranger at the door. She said ‘I have your son in my car, and he’s hurt’. I said ‘okay, what happened’.
“She said ‘I saw him walking by the side of the road by the railway tracks and his hand is hurt’. She was very adamant that it was very bad.
“The man she was with helped my son around the side of the car. I could clearly see his left hand and it was horrible. His right hand was damaged as well.”
Robert described the extent of Aiden’s injuries in graphic detail.
“The palm of his hand was just turned inside out. It’s the first time I’d ever seen an explosive injury first-hand,” the dad recalled.
“There was a lot of soft tissue damage. Digits were hanging. A lot of tissue exposure you could see bone, fingers, hand, ligaments.
“His whole inside left hand was completely exposed. It did almost completely sever his thumb.
“The very base of the thumb all the way down to where it meets the wrist. That was all hanging off.
“His right hand was pretty gnarly. I know either one or two of his fingers were fractured. Big deep cuts. It was blue inside out. It’s ugly.
“There were huge burns in his t-shirt which was still smouldering. His face was peppered with shrapnel. A bunch of his hair got singed off.”
A big flash is all he remembers. He looked down and saw his hand and the blood
Robert Dean Adams
Robert admitted that he feared his son might die because of the severity of his injuries – but he tried to remain calm so as not to worry Aiden.
Robert said: “My first initial thought was ‘is he going to die’ because this is bad. I just tried to show calmness and get him calmed down and settled. He was very, very tense and scared.
“When we got him down to the ground and I was able to sit behind him and have him lean against me I could feel him release. That scared the hell out of me because I thought ‘did he just die’.
“At this point I didn’t know the severity of his injuries but I’m looking at these huge burn holes in his shirt and blood splattered all over his jeans. I’m just trying to concentrate on how bad this is and if he is he going to survive.
“I covered his hand with a towel. He was conscious through the whole thing. He was amazing. My wife got a hold of 911. They were there within seconds.
“The strength of this kid amazes me. He never once said ‘I’m scared’ or ‘I’m going to die’. He was more concerned about superficial things. He was calmer than anybody.
“The kid still to this point hasn’t shed a tear. It’s mind blowing to me.”
Robert went on: “The vape he had, he said he’d had it for a while. For whatever reason he won’t tell us where he got it from.
“He was trying to use it and it wasn’t working properly.
“He said he threw it down and went to grab it, picked it up and was going to use it.
“BOOM. He said it blew up. A big flash is all he remembers.
“He looked down and saw his hand and the blood.”
Aiden headed towards the road and was able to flag down a car and give the driver his address.
The 15-year-old was then rushed to hospital for emergency surgery to stitch his hand back together.
Aiden was seen by a hand surgeon three days after the incident, on November 23.
VAPES were once hailed as miracle devices to help adults ditch cigarettes.
But while the devices don’t carry the same risks as tobacco, experts have warned that vaping might not be so harmless after all.
Here are five ways vaping could damage young users bodies:
1. It could slow down brain development
Vaping nicotine can permanently affect brain development in people under the age of 25, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
It said that nicotine consumed during teenage years can harm the parts of the brain that control attention, learning, mood, and impulse control, as well as increase the risk of addiction.
2. It could lead to tooth decay
Dr Michael Heffernan, a dentist at The Wessex Dental Specialist Care, said most vapes contain dangerous chemical that can harm your teeth and lead to decay.
Puffing on the devices could also lead to mouth dryness, creating an environment in which harmful bacteria can grow.
3. It could damage heart health
However, some of the chemicals found in vapes can be damaging to the heart, with the American Heart Association (AHA) stating that vaping is “as harmful to the body’s cardiovascular systems as cigarettes”.
4. It could cause lung disease
Vaping from a young age could leave children with breathing difficulties, with paediatric respiratory consultant Dr Mike McKean saying he’d seen reports of people developing lung disease related to vaping.
Researchers from the US also found that young people who vape are more at risk of bronchitis, inflammation of the airways, and shortness of breath.
Read more on how vaping can affect your health here.
He had to have part of his index and middle fingertips removed but his thumb has been saved.
Robert said: “The index and middle finger tips were amputated down to nail cuticles. The index finger bone is still exposed and possibly will be cut back more.
“The thumb was almost detached. One main artery remains that is keeping the thumb alive.
“The outcome looks positive. Recovery is going to be several weeks and he will be out of school until further notice.
“He’s still young, he’s still figuring out his life. There’s so many things he still wants to try.
“He loves music. He’d been wanting a guitar and maybe starting to learn that. That was taken away from him for some stupid thing.”
The retiree admitted he first caught his son vaping aged 10 after he stole one from a family member and he has been “addicted” ever since.
Robert said: “He’s had this addiction to these things for nearly four years. He was vaping constantly every day for sure.
“What happened to him – the vape exploding – was never in my mind.
“I thought the worst that was going to come of it was he’d have this horrible addiction. Or is he going to get some disease from picking this thing off the street and putting it in his mouth?
“This [explosion] was not a thought in my mind. It was a complete total shock.
“We’ve gone from one extreme to the other when it comes to fighting this thing. Everything to try to prevent it you can imagine we’ve probably done.”
The parent, who used to smoke cigarettes, admitted he “never trusted” disposable vapes and wants to spread awareness of the dangers they pose, especially to young people.
Robert said: “When I saw [vapes] first come out I was against it 100% even though I was a smoker.
“This stuff popped up out of nowhere. I don’t remember it ever being advertised to people other than seeing kids with it.
“That’s who you see more than anybody are the children. I never trusted these things. I don’t like them.
“I would rather him smoke a cigarette. They’re very easy to detect. The possibility of him lighting up a cigarette and it blowing his damn hand off, that’s not fair.
“But we’ve put a device out there that can get into the hands of kids that apparently has a highly explosive possibility.
“That right there, people need to know about and be educated on. If they were, these things probably wouldn’t be here.
“Aiden’s expressed very much that he’s against [vaping]. He wants everybody to know.
“It’s definitely put it in his head that this is done.”
VAPING has been touted as an effective tool to help people quit smoking.
Though vaping is substantially less harmful than smoking, the habit isn’t completely harmless and comes with its own set of risks.
The NHS only recommends it for adult smokers, to support quitting smoking.
GP and author Dr Philippa Kaye explained to The Sun that the differences between vaping and smoking – and whether one is better than the other – is “complicated”.
“In a nutshell, vaping is better than smoking, but breathing air is better than vaping at all.”
Vaping exposes users to far fewer toxins – and at lower levels – than smoking cigarettes.
Switching to vaping significantly reduces your exposure to toxins that can cause cancer, lung disease, and diseases of the heart and circulation like heart attack and stroke.
These diseases are not caused by nicotine, which is relatively harmless to health. But research has still linked vaping to a higher risk of failure and lung disease.
Health risks of cigarettes
Health risks of vaping
Read more on how vaping can affect your health here.
Sources: NHS, CDC
