A 23-year-old ended up on life support after one smoke led to mould invading her lungs, nose and ears. The influencer tried marijuana mixed with tobacco for the first time while hanging out with a mate.

However, within minutes, she found herself coughing, to the point she became breathless and passed out – only to later wake up as she was being transported to the hospital. Madelynn May, aged 23, said: “My lungs failed me and started growing mould. I was at my friend’s house and after a puff, I just couldn’t breathe all of a sudden. I kept coughing and eventually passed out from the lack of oxygen”.

It was the mum of Madelynn’s friend who called the emergency services, to which the content creator was put on life support whilst in the ambulance. Doctors ran urgent tests but were left stumped by the rapid decline of Madelynn’s lungs.

An aggressive fungal infection was fighting her mucous membranes, resulting in her organs shutting down, with doctors confused as to why. A portacath was inserted for fungal treatment, but the mould had already spread throughout Madelynn’s body.

She said: “My parents got a call saying I was on life support – with no idea how or why it happened. They were terrified. I was being kept alive by a machine pumping me full of medicines to try and help my lungs.

“At first, no one could work out why this was happening to my body. Over the next year, I was sent from hospital to hospital in the hopes that someone could figure out what was wrong with me. The doctors were stumped.”

The only thing the doctors could confirm was that Madelynn had a fungal infection, but they had no idea why it happened and what caused it to be so severe.

Madelynn, from Memphis, US, was in intensive care on life support before waking up. Doctors explained to her that she had pulmonary failure, also known as respiratory failure, a condition where the lungs can’t oxygenate the blood or remove carbon dioxide. This was caused by an infection known as aspergillosis, which is caused by a fungus that usually affects the respiratory system.

In the space of four years, she had to undergo eight bronchoscopies, a procedure where a thin tube is inserted into the airways for examination. She also had to use an oxygen tank every day at home after being discharged from the hospital.

She said: “I basically had mould everywhere. It was in my lungs, ears, and sinuses. I lived in hospitals for about a year, including being sent to different specialty wards throughout that time.

“I lived in hospitals for about a year including being sent to different speciality wards throughout that time. The doctors had to keep going into them to clean off the mould, and I had to walk around with my oxygen tank or my levels would drop really low.

“Having been lying in a hospital bed for so long, I also had physical therapy to strengthen my muscles and I get regular check-ups even now. My health was awful because the mould spores would re-populate.

“When I put a Q-tip in my ears, it would come out black and I coughed up black phlegm for six months.”

Madeylnn was in her teens at the time of the fateful smoke. Four years later, she felt able to breathe again without the assistance of an oxygen tank.

During the start of her recovery, the doctors had linked the smoking incident to the mould attack as no one had mentioned it, until one of them asked if she smoked and it “hit” her.

She added: “I remembered the puff and told them about it, and they said it made complete sense. They believe I inhaled fungal spores while smoking the joint, which had both weed and tobacco inside.

“For a while, doctors thought I’d need a lung transplant but thankfully, the mould hadn’t caused widespread damage yet. I got really lucky – they say my lungs are better than most people my age now.

“I will never touch any form of smoke again.”