Concern gripped a mother of two when her ability to read and speak mysteriously vanished, leaving her in fear of a stroke. Lydia Ward, a resident of Georgia, had been vaping intermittently over three years when she encountered a frightening episode late in October.

While using her e-cigarette at home, Ward was suddenly overwhelmed by fatigue and dizziness. Her vision faltered, becoming unfocused and unclear, which left her feeling disoriented and light-headed. In a state of panic, she reached out to her husband, only to discover that the words on her phone screen were an incomprehensible blur. “It was like looking through a glass,” she recounted. “Everything was very blurry.”

Ward described her inability to read as bizarre and unsettling, lasting for a distressing 10 minutes. “I couldn’t read anything,” she recalled. “The words didn’t make sense. I couldn’t remember how to read; it was very weird.”

In addition to her reading struggles, Ward’s speech became slurred, and she found herself unable to recall the names of friends and acquaintances. The situation escalated as she drove to pick up her daughter from school, accompanied by her mother. Her condition was so severe that she failed to recognize the school principal, a person she would normally identify easily.

This alarming incident has highlighted the potential health risks associated with vaping, underlining the need for awareness and caution among e-cigarette users.

Her speech also became slurred as she failed to remember the names of friends and acquaintances. Driving to pick up her daughter from school, her mom in tow, she couldn’t even recognize the school principal. 

‘[My mom] started mentioning people’s names just to make sure I remembered. It was a weird couple of hours of just having neurological issues,’ Ward said. 

Despite the scare, all of her tests later that day came back clear. Doctors believe the thousands of potentially cancer-causing chemicals in vapes constricted her blood vessels, potentially blocking blood flow to her brain, leading to stroke-like symptoms.

Lydia Ward (pictured here), 34, vaped ‘on and off’ for about three years when she suddenly found herself unable to read or speak, fearing she had a stroke 

The toxins can also induce inflammation in the eyes and vocal cords, leading to blurred vision and trouble speaking. 

The medical team urged Ward to drop the habit, which she said she had picked up after being influenced by friends. 

‘My friends were all doing it. It was social, it was boredom at home, stress relief,’ she said.

‘After the hospital I got home and threw [the vape] away, it scared me so bad.’ 

Ward’s warning comes as roughly six percent of US adults (about 17 million) report vaping regularly. 

The highest rates are seen in young adults aged 18 to 24, with more than 15 percent in that group reporting regular use.

Among children, about 1.6 million middle and high school students vape, though usage has declined since its peak in 2019.

Vaping has long been touted as a safer alternative to smoking cigarettes, which is proven to cause nine in 10 cases of lung cancer, America’s deadliest form of the disease.

However, a growing body of research has found vaping could be linked to other long-term harms such as high blood pressure and stroke. 

Earlier this year, doctors writing in a medical journal detailed the case of a New Jersey man who died of aggressive lung cancer, the first case of its kind thought to be directly caused by e-cigarettes. 

E-cigarettes produce an aerosol by heating a liquid that usually contains nicotine, flavorings and a mixture of toxic chemicals.

Though all of Ward’s tests came back clean, doctors suspect her vaping caused changes in her blood pressure that led to stroke-like symptoms

Ward, pictured here, has since quit vaping and swears she will never again pick up the habit after her medical scare

When inhaled, this vapor can deliver harmful substances deep into the lungs, including formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, and other volatile organic compounds known to cause cancer.

These substances can damage lung tissue, and over time, this damage can lead to DNA mutations and inflammation which increase the risk of cancer.

‘People don’t realize when they are simply vaping what effects it can have,’ Ward said. ‘You might not feel it one day, but I feel like it can happen to anyone.’

Ward she wanted to use her story to warn others about what could happen. 

‘Imagine waking up one day and just not being able to put simple words together,’ she said. ‘I was scared I wasn’t going to be able to function. What if my vision didn’t come back? What if something was wrong with my brain?’

The makeup artist has stopped vaping altogether and has largely recovered from the incident, though she still has a slight cough and tightness in her chest. She has also vowed to never start vaping again. 

‘I really think it was linked and the people at the hospital said they have people come in all the time [with issues linked to the e-cigarettes].

‘My advice to anyone vaping, especially younger people, is to think long and hard about your health and if you want a long healthy life.’