22-Year-Old Woman Warns "Vaping Will Catch Up With You" After Being Given Just 18 Months to Live

A YOUNG woman who has been vaping since she was 15 has been given 18 months to live following a lung cancer diagnosis.

Kayley Boda, 22, was diagnosed with stage three last year and the doctors said her condition was normally seen in 80-year-olds.

Kayley Boda was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer earlier this month Credit: Gofundme Kayley started vaping when she was just 15 Credit: Gofundme Kayley’s symptoms started with a rash all over her body Credit: SWNS

Kayley, from , was getting through one 600-puff vape a week when she started coughing up a brown substance with “grainy bits” in it in January 2025.

The assistant said doctors turned her away eight times, telling her she had a chest infection, until she began coughing up blood.

After seven biopsies, Kayley was diagnosed with lung cancer and has undergone surgery to remove the lower lobe of her right lung, as well as chemotherapy.

In February of this year, she got the all clear, but on April 9, doctors said the cancer had come back in the pleural lining, and that she has just 18 months to live.

Kayley started a bit as a teen and started using reusable vapes aged 15. She then moved to disposable vapes a few months before her cancer symptoms started in November 2024.

Kayley initially developed a rash all over her body, which doctors put down to shingles, chicken pox, or scabies.

“I got treated for all three, and nothing worked,” she said.

“It got to the point where I was cutting myself from scratching so hard.”

A few months later, she began coughing up a dark brown mucus, with grainy bits, the consistency of sugar, in it.

“At first I thought it was normal, because I vaped a lot, so I brushed it off,” she said.

When the coughing continued she went to the doctors but was told it could be scarring from pneumonia, or a chest infection.

She said: “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.”

Over the next four months, Kayley had seven biopsies, where doctors took samples of the “shadow”.

She said: “They told me they were 99 per cent 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.

“Before the diagnosis, I was very naive and thought that something like this would never happen to me.”

Following the diagnosis of stage one lung cancer, Kayley had surgery to remove the lower lobe of her right lung, and the surrounding lymph nodes.

Kayley Boda believes vaping is a reason for her diagnosis Credit: SWNS Kayley started coughing up brown bits in January last year Credit: SWNS Doctors x-rayed Kayley and found a shadow on her lung Credit: SWNS

During the surgery, doctors upstaged Kayley’s cancer from stage one to stage three, after finding cancer in six surrounding lymph nodes.

She said: “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 . I lost 4kg in four days.”

Following the surgery, Kayley was unable to breathe properly and had to learn to walk again but she finally got the all clear in February.

However, a month later, she began experiencing extreme chest pains and was told by doctors she had a pleural effusion, which is a build-up of fluid on the lungs.

She got just under 2 litres of fluid drained, but when doctors tested it, they discovered her cancer had returned to the pleural lining of her lungs, giving her 18 months to live.

“The oncologist said this is so rare, and usually something they see in patients that are 80 years old,” she said.

Kayley said that doctors were unable to give her a definitive answer on the cause of her cancer, but told her that smoking and definitely didn’t help.

Since her diagnosis she has stopped and is urging others to stop too.

Kayley is now hoping to raise £20,000 for treatment in to try and prolong her life.

She said: “No words can describe how I feel, I’m 22, this isn’t meant to happen to somebody my age.

“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.

“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.”

Kayley Boda’s surgery scar Credit: SWNS Kayley’s family have started a gofundme to raise money for treatment in Germany Credit: Gofundme Kayley Boda was diagnosed at age 21 Credit: SWNS