{"id":540128,"date":"2026-04-19T23:15:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T23:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/540128\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T23:15:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T23:15:11","slug":"woman-22-given-months-to-live-after-starting-vaping-at-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/540128\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman, 22, given months to live after starting vaping at 15"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kayley Boda was getting through one disposable vape a week when she began coughing up brown substance with ‘grainy bits’Wesley Holmes<\/a> Liverpool Echo reporter and SWNSOliviaStringer (Olivia Stringer)<\/p>\n

17:30, 19 Apr 2026<\/p>\n

\"Kayley<\/p>\n

Kayley Boda was diagnosed with lung cancer aged 21(Image: SWNS)<\/p>\n

A woman who took up vaping at 15 and worked her way through a 600-puff pen every week has been given just 18 months to live. Kayley Boda, 22, began coughing up a brown substance containing “grainy bits” in January 2025, and was later diagnosed with lung cancer.<\/p>\n

The retail assistant said medical professionals dismissed her concerns on eight separate occasions, attributing her symptoms to a chest infection, until she started coughing up blood. Following seven biopsies, Kayley received a lung cancer diagnosis and has since had surgery to remove the lower lobe of her right lung, alongside chemotherapy treatment.<\/p>\n

She was declared cancer-free in February 2026, but just two months on, medics discovered the disease had returned in the pleural lining, giving her an 18-month prognosis.<\/p>\n

Kayley, from Manchester, is now fundraising to access a clinical trial in Germany that could extend her life, while warning others about the potential risks associated with vaping.<\/p>\n

She said: “A few months after I switched from reusable vapes to disposable ones, I started coughing up brown, grainy mucus. Doctors turned me away eight times with a chest infection. Then I started coughing up blood, so they did an x-ray and found a shadow on my lung.<\/p>\n

“They told me they were 99% sure with me being so young that it wasn’t cancer, so not to worry about it. When I got the results back and they told me it was lung cancer, it felt so surreal.<\/p>\n

“Before the diagnosis, I was very na\u00efve and thought that something like this would never happen to me.<\/p>\n

“I had surgery to remove half of my right lung and after the surgery, I started chemo and I had a terrible reaction to it. I couldn’t lift my head up, I was throwing up blood, I was urinating blood. I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t sleep. I lost 4kg in four days.<\/p>\n

“When I got the all clear it felt amazing, but just two months later I was told the cancer had come back, and I have 18 months to live.<\/p>\n

“No words can describe how I feel, I’m 22, this isn’t meant to happen to somebody my age.<\/p>\n

“I’ve put the cancer down to vaping because my symptoms started a few months after I started disposable vapes, and there’s no lung cancer in my family.<\/p>\n

“I haven’t vaped for three months, I’ve made my partner stop, I’ve made my mum stop, I’m urging all my friends to stop. Stay off the vapes, because they will catch up with you.”<\/p>\n

\"Kayley<\/p>\n

Kayley in hospital(Image: SWNS)<\/p>\n

Kayley had started smoking a bit as a teen and began using reusable vapes at 15. Her switch to disposable vapes came just months before her cancer symptoms emerged.<\/p>\n

In November 2024, she noticed a rash spreading across her entire body, which medical professionals initially suspected could be shingles, chickenpox, or scabies.<\/p>\n

She said: “I got treated for all three, and nothing worked. It got the point where I was cutting myself from scratching so hard.”<\/p>\n

\"She<\/p>\n

She was declared cancer-free in February 2026, but just two months on, medics discovered the disease had returned(Image: SWNS)<\/p>\n

Several months on, she started bringing up dark brown mucus containing grainy particles with a texture similar to sugar. At first she thought this was a normal reaction to her frequent vaping and “brushed it off”. But when the persistent cough wouldn’t shift, she consulted her GP and was told it might be scarring from pneumonia or a chest infection.<\/p>\n

By March 2025, Kayley started coughing up bright red blood and returned to her doctor, who arranged a chest X-ray that revealed a shadow on her lower right lung.<\/p>\n

Throughout the following four months, Kayley underwent seven biopsies as medics took samples of the “shadow”.<\/p>\n

Doctors reassured her not to be concerned, but come August, when Kayley attended her appointment for the biopsy results, she received the devastating news that she had stage one lung cancer.<\/p>\n

In September last year, Kayley underwent an operation to remove the lower lobe of her right lung along with the surrounding lymph nodes.<\/p>\n

During the procedure, medics upstaged Kayley’s cancer from stage one to stage three after discovering cancer in six surrounding lymph nodes.<\/p>\n

\"Kayley<\/p>\n

Kayley in hospital(Image: SWNS)<\/p>\n

Post-surgery, she struggled to breathe properly and had to relearn how to walk. After completing chemotherapy in February 2026, she received the all clear, leaving her overjoyed.<\/p>\n

Yet just a month on, she began suffering severe chest pains and doctors informed her she had developed a pleural effusion\u2014a build-up of fluid on the lungs.<\/p>\n

The fluid was drained, but when medics analysed it, they discovered her cancer had returned to the pleural lining of her lungs, giving her 18 months to live.<\/p>\n

She said: “The oncologist said this is so rare, and usually something they see in patients that are 80 years old.” She revealed that medics couldn’t provide a conclusive explanation for her cancer, but confirmed that smoking and vaping certainly didn’t help matters.<\/p>\n

Following her diagnosis, she has quit both habits and is now encouraging others to do the same.<\/p>\n

Kayley is currently attempting to raise \u00a320,000 for treatment in Germany in a bid to extend her life. Donations can be made through her GoFundMe page: https:\/\/gofund.me\/ebfc95bf3<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kayley Boda was getting through one disposable vape a week when she began coughing up brown substance with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":540129,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[59,102,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-540128","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-gb","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=540128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540128\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/540129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=540128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=540128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=540128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}