- Leonard Middle School
- Homepage
Teen Shares Story of Her Personal Vaping Battle with FWISD Community
Anna Carey began vaping and using e-cigarette products at 14 years old.
Seeing news reports linking e-cigarettes to serious respiratory illnesses and even death didn’t deter her.
“It didn’t really hit me that that would happen to me,” she told a packed auditorium of students and educators Wednesday, January 29 at Fort Worth ISD’s I.M. Terrell Academy for STEM and VPA.
Everything changed for Anna, now 17, when the effects of vaping and e-cigarettes left her in a hospital bed, she said.
“It was the worst pain in my entire life,” said the homeschooled student. “Imagine a brick being thrown at your chest like constantly.
“Everything is just so scary when you’re actually in that [hospital] bed.”
Anna was among multiple guests brought to the Fort Worth ISD this week for two discussions – one with parents and another with students and educators – hosted January 28 and 29 about vaping’s impact on youth, it’s effects and how to detect e-cigarette devices. Other panelists included medical professionals, state officials, high school and college-aged and students.
The Fort Worth ISD and its Council of PTAs partnered with the American Heart Association, Fort Worth SPARC and State Rep. Nicole Collier (D-Fort Worth) to host the two community discussions about this epidemic and its impact on youth.
Ahead of the two discussions, the Fort Worth ISD Board of Education and City Council each approved anti-vaping resolutions Tuesday, January 28, advocating for community dialogue on the health risks of vaping and an end to tobacco and nicotine use among youth. FWISD is among one of the largest school districts in the nation to pass such a decree, according to officials with the American Heart Association.
“We came together to make a statement about vaping and e-cigarettes,” FWISD Superintendent Kent Scribner said of the resolutions before an estimated 250 students and educators attending the January 29 discussion. “We as school people can’t do it all by ourselves. It has to be a community effort … to protect students.”
More than 5 million students in the United States are using electronic cigarettes and vaping, according to the recent survey conducted by the Food and Drug Administration. Studies show that more than 1-in-4 high school students have used e-cigarettes.
Within recent years, the e-cigarette usage among teens has doubled, leading to a nationwide epidemic. E-cigarette usage and vaping in the last couple years has been linked to multiple deaths and hospitalizations resulting from serious respiratory, heart and cancer-related illnesses.
An e-cigarette is a battery powered device that delivers nicotine and flavorings to its user in the form of aerosol. Vaping is the act of inhaling and exhaling the aerosol. Studies show that vaping impacts teenage brain development and causes serious respiratory illnesses that could lead to death.
Dr. Peter Stout, a nationally acclaimed toxicologist from Houston participating in the local discussions, urged students to strongly consider the choices they make when it comes to nicotine and the dangerous compounds they’re potentially inhaling when vaping and using e-cigarettes.
“The best I can do is try to help you understand the choices that you’re making and the stuff that’s there,” Dr. Stout told students. “This isn’t just a bad trend. This is an explosive growth in the use of tobacco products.”
For students like Anna Carey the decision to vape and use e-cigarettes has altered her life forever. Simple tasks like walking fast or even dancing are challenges that leave her out of breath, she said. Recovery, Anna said, will be a lifelong process.
“You don’t return back to normal,” she said. “If you’re considering to vape, don’t. It’s not worth it.”
For more information on e-cigarettes and its effect, visit https://e-cigarettes.surgeongeneral.gov/
-FWISD-
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and the Fort Worth ISD Mobile App for the latest information