16-year-old Arizona girl went into cardiac arrest after secretly vaping for two years
Mother of Arizona girl, 16, whose secret vaping nearly killed her reveals gruesome details of finding her ‘pretty much lifeless’ mid-heart attack as blood gushed from her mouth
- Betty Hatten-Ford, from Phoenix, Arizona, found her 16-year-old daughter Samantha, unresponsive in her room last Tuesday
- With blood and mucus gushing out her mouth, Samantha was rushed to Phoenix Children’s Hospital
- Doctors ran tests and told Hatten-Ford that Samantha had gone into cardiac arrest due to vaping
- Her lungs were bleeding and her heart was functioning at just 30%, but her health is now improving
- There have been nearly 1,300 vaping-related illnesses across the US and 26 confirmed deaths in 21 states, according to the CDC
An Arizona mother said she didn’t know her 16-year-old daughter had been vaping for two years until she found her unconscious and close to death.
Betty Hatten-Ford, from Phoenix, said her daughter Samantha was at their house with her friends last Tuesday.
All of a sudden, the teenagers screamed for Hatten-Ford, who ran upstairs to find Samantha unresponsive on her bed with blood and mucus coming out of her mouth.
The teenager was rushed to the hospital, where doctors determined she had gone into cardiac arrest because vaping had so severely damaged her lungs and heart.
Hatten-Ford told Fox 10 Phoenix she feels ‘like a total failure’ for not realizing her daughter had been secretly vaping for two years.
Betty Hatten-Ford, from Phoenix, Arizona, found her 16-year-old daughter, Samantha (pictured, in the hospital), unresponsive in her room last Tuesday
Hatten-Ford (pictured) said blood and mucus was gushing out her daughter’s mouth as she was rushed to Phoenix Children’s Hospital
‘I tried to get her off the bed but she was pretty much lifeless,’ Hatten-Ford told Fox 10 of finding her daughter unresponsive.
‘I tried to do CPR but I couldn’t because there was so much mucus and fluid coming from her mouth.’
Samantha was rushed to Phoenix Children’s Hospital and placed in the Intensive Care Unit.
After running several tests, doctors told Hatten-Ford that vaping had caused Samantha to go into cardiac arrest.
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The teen’s lungs were bleeding and heart was functioning at just 30 percent.
There have been nearly 1,300 cases reported in mostly teens and young adults in 49 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The CDC has confirmed at least 26 deaths linked to vaping in 21 states.
The majority of those who fell ill reported vaping products containing THC, the main psychoactive compound found in marijuana.
Doctors ran tests and told Samantha’s mother that the teenager had gone into cardiac arrest due to vaping, which she had been doing secretly for two years. Pictured: Samantha
Her lungs were bleeding and her heart was functioning at just 30% but her health is now improving. Pictured: Samantha, left, with a friend
Many of the cannabis vaping products contained high levels of vitamin E acetate, which is linked to the illnesses, including Samantha’s.
‘They found lots of vapes in her room when the police officers looked in there,’ Hatten-Ford told Fox 10.
‘[There is] nicotine in the oils and doctors mentioned that, if they were off-market, vitamin E oils they are very dangerous when heated up.’
Samantha has since been extubated, meaning her breathing tube has been removed, and was able to communicate with doctors herself for the first time on Monday.
Her mother says she hopes her daughter and her friends will now recognize the dangers of vaping.
‘I’m thinking that maybe seeing her this way might wake [her friends] up and that it can happen,’ Hatten-Ford said,referring to life-threatening lung damage linked to vaping.
Fox 10 reported that Samantha will remain at Phoenix Children’s Hospital for at least the next five weeks.
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