A mother is warning others about the potential dangers of vape pens after her son’s jaw was broken in several places when one exploded in his mouth, according to reports this week.
Mailan Krein, of Louisiana, said that her 21-year-old son, Christopher, began vaping to kick his smoking habit. In August, a vape pen exploded in his face, and he was rushed to the hospital.
“He had an IV in there, the doctor was trying to control the bleeding, there was blood everywhere, and all I could think to ask him was, ‘Do you still have your tongue?’ And he nodded yes,” Krein said. “I couldn’t even look at him because it made me sick to my stomach. That’s my baby,” she told the Fox affiliate.
When he began inhaling from the pen, it was like “a shotgun that went off in his mouth,” said Krein.
“It’s still shocking to me talking about it. I’m visualizing what my son is going through. He has several years to reconstruct his mouth,” said Krein, adding that his hospital bills could total $300,000.
She’s now warning other parents.
“For me, when I saw my son I wanted to die. I wanted to take his pain away from him. It gives me the chills talking about it now. It doesn’t matter if it’s your baby or your oldest ... to see something like that happen and then for him to not even talk or swallow, and all that pain going through him, I don’t want any parents to have to go through that,” Krein said.
“Though instances like this are incredibly infrequent, they are most commonly the result of a corrupted or misused battery; however, without knowing specifics it’s hard to tell what may have happened. One of the key tenets of the Louisiana Vaping Association is education. Member businesses of the association strive to educate customers on the safe use of batteries and vaping devices. We hope to monitor this situation and continue to educate Louisiana vapor businesses and the public to prevent similar incidents in the future,” the statement reads.
