As a lifelong smoker, Loyda Cordero Galiero thought she was making a healthy choice when she kicked the habit and switched to vaping.
But just a year later, the 39-year-old from Franklin, New York, suddenly couldn’t breathe and felt like she was suffocating.
She was rushed to the hospital — where doctors made a devastating diagnosis and said she could die at any moment.
Physicians said vaping had severely damaged her lungs, causing inflammation and fluid buildup that made it harder to breathe.
Her collapsed lung could no longer expand and contract properly, and even slight movements risked rupturing more fragile air sacs.
Her doctors warned her lungs were like a ‘ticking time bomb’.
She had to stop vaping immediately and could no longer lie flat — not even to sleep. Instead, she was forced to sleep upright in a recliner.
Lying down, they cautioned, could trigger more ruptures and internal bleeding that might flood her lungs with fluid — ultimately suffocating her.
Loyda Cordero Galiero, 39, was left fighting for her life after she switched from smoking to vaping, believing she had made a healthy choice
She also could not do any exercise in case the strain burst the air-sacs, even something as simple as cooking or carrying groceries.
The lungs are made up of tiny balloon-like structures called alveoli, or air sacs, which are responsible for exchanging oxygen and carbon dioxide.
When these sacs are damaged or burst — which can occur due to severe inflammation or changes in pressure — it may result in bleeding, fluid accumulation, and a significant reduction in lung function.
Galiero said she was a pack-a-day smoker before switching to vaping. But once she started using e-cigarettes, she would puff ‘like crazy’.
She said: ‘With a cigarette, you can put it out and do what you’ve got to do.
‘However, with a vape, it’s comparable to a cell phone — it’s practically always in your hand, and you find yourself using it even when you don’t specifically want to simply because it’s accessible.’
She added: ‘It’s horrible. Vaping is 100 percent more dangerous than cigarettes.’
Doctors suggest that vaping might be healthier than smoking since it doesn’t require burning tobacco, the process responsible for creating the most dangerous chemicals found in cigarette smoke.
But physicians also say that using vapes regularly — particularly those not approved by the FDA — can cause complications.
Smoke from the devices contains propylene glycol — made from petroleum — that can inflame the airways, leading blood to leak into the lungs.
Galiero didn’t say what brand she was using, or what flavors — but many are attracted to vapes for their appealing and often fruity tastes.
She added that she was ‘so proud’ when she had made the switch from smoking to vaping, and was never once warned about the potential risks.
After she was rushed to the ER in March this year, when she choked on a sip of a drink, doctors diagnosed her with pulmonary bullae — or when large air-filled spaces open up in the lungs when lung tissue is destroyed.
She was told she would need to quit vaping before having surgery, which would likely involve removing fluid-filled areas of her lungs.
Galiero, from New York state, is pictured above in her hospital bed after doctors said that vaping had put her life at risk
After quitting, she underwent surgery on April 30 — and is still there now recovering from the procedure.
Galiero said: ‘My doctor said that my lung collapsed because they were building up with the liquid from my vape and one of the pulmonary bullae ended up rupturing.’
She added: ‘My esophagus is out of place to where the pulmonary bullae sac is putting pressure onto that and if that ruptures, it could cause… internal bleeding which could kill me instantly.’
Speaking before the surgery, she added: ‘It’s causing a lot of problems.
‘If I lay down when sleeping instead of sitting up I can choke to death on my own spit or I can suffocate and die.
‘I literally have to sit up in bed or on a recliner when I sleep because I’m no longer allowed to sleep lying down until after the surgery — it’s pretty much a life or death situation.’
Doctors say that it is healthier not to use cigarettes or vapes than to use either of the devices.
They warn that many vapes sold in the US are not FDA-approved, and have been shipped into the US from other countries — often China.
The mother-of-two underwent grueling surgery to repair her lungs, and is now recovering from it in the hospital
Vaping was initially approved in the US as a method to help people quit smoking, with some experts saying it was ’95 percent less dangerous’.
But this is dependent on how often people use the devices, with many reporting that they puff on them far more than they ever smoked cigarettes.
About 6.5 percent of US adults vape, according to the CDC, equivalent to about 16.7million people in the country.
It isn’t clear how many are sickened by the devices every year, but the CDC reports that between 2019 and 2020 there were 2,800 hospitalizations and 68 deaths due to lung damage from the devices. Numbers now are likely much higher.
The FDA has authorized 34 tobacco- and menthol-flavored e-cigarette devices to date, which underwent rigorous scientific review. It has not approved any vapes with fruity flavors.
