**Teenager’s Brush with Death After Smoking Once: Life Support, Years of Hospital Care, and a Startling Recovery**
A teenager from the UK endured years of life-threatening complications after a single experiment with smoking left her hospitalised and fighting for survival. Madelynn May, now 23, was only a teenager when a lone cigarette containing a blend of marijuana and tobacco triggered a cascade of severe health issues, leading to years of medical interventions and ongoing aftercare.
Madelynn’s ordeal began unexpectedly during what she describes as a casual encounter with a friend. After taking just one puff, she rapidly developed difficulty breathing and started coughing uncontrollably. She soon lost consciousness, and emergency services rushed her to hospital as her condition deteriorated at an alarming rate.
“I just couldn’t breathe almost straight away,” Madelynn recalled. Her symptoms—extreme breathlessness and continuous coughing—were so severe that her friend’s mother called for an ambulance. During her transfer to hospital, paramedics placed her on life support as her oxygen levels plummeted dangerously low.
Upon arrival, medical teams scrambled to identify the cause of what appeared to be acute lung failure. Despite immediate intervention, doctors were initially at a loss, as repeated tests revealed damage but not the underlying reason. What emerged was a rare and aggressive fungal infection, affecting her lungs, sinuses, and ears—a condition seldom seen in someone so young and previously healthy.
Specialists inserted a portacath to deliver urgent antifungal medication, but even with prompt treatment, the infection had already spread. Her parents, petrified and confused, received the devastating call that their daughter’s life was hanging in the balance with no clear explanation. Over the course of the following year, Madelynn was transferred between hospitals and specialist wards, while teams of consultants tried to unravel the mystery.
Eventually, she was diagnosed with aspergillosis, a potentially fatal infection caused by the inhalation of Aspergillus mould spores. This fungus, which thrives in damp or decaying environments, very rarely causes such devastating damage to healthy lungs. Madelynn’s case, triggered by just a single exposure, left doctors baffled and illustrated just how unpredictable such infections can be.
Her treatment journey was gruelling. Madelynn underwent no fewer than eight bronchoscopies to monitor and manage the fungal growth in her airways. Since her lungs could not absorb enough oxygen, she was reliant on supplementary oxygen for four years. She recounted, “I basically had mould everywhere—there were spores in my ears, my nose, and my lungs. My health was at its absolute lowest because the spores just kept coming back.”
Throughout this lengthy ordeal, Madelynn’s everyday life was upended. Restricted by her condition, she spent a year almost entirely in hospital, watched closely by respiratory and infectious disease specialists. As part of her recovery, not only did she require ongoing medication but also physiotherapy to rebuild her strength after months of immobility.
The definitive link between the fateful joint and her illness only became clear some time later. As she progressed through her recovery, a specialist questioned her about potential exposures. “That’s when the memory of smoking came back, and the doctors immediately suspected I’d inhaled fungal spores through the cigarette,” she explained. Thankfully, despite initial concerns, her lungs eventually recovered to better-than-average capacity for her age, though the scare has deterred her from ever smoking again.
Despite missing years of typical adolescent experiences, Madelynn found a new purpose in sharing her journey online. She built a substantial following on social media, both raising awareness about the dangers of inhaled contaminants and, unexpectedly, launching a successful career as a content creator. “What started as a distraction turned into a way for me to inspire others and raise awareness—I never thought it would become my livelihood.”
Madelynn’s experience is a stark reminder of the unpredictable dangers associated with smoking substances and the severe consequences even a single encounter can have. For her, the nightmare is now in the past, but her message remains clear: sometimes, just once is all it takes.