WARNING DISTRESSING IMAGES. Suzanne Manus, from Alabama, has told how her vape blew up as she was driving on a shopping trip, setting her on fire and she felt she was going to die before being rushed to hospital
A mum was left looking like she had been “attacked by a zombie” after her vape exploded leading her car to erupt in a fireball.
Suzanne Manus had been driving back to her house after a shopping trip when her rechargeable vape resting in between her thighs blew up without warning in November last year.
Her husband Bobby Manus had been on the phone to her, heard the “boom” of the explosion and his wife declare she was on fire, before the line went dead – leaving him fearing for her life.
The mum-of-two said when her legs caught fire, she pulled over on the highway and jumped out her car before removing her trousers at the side of the road.
At this point, Suzanne said she was too scared to look at her injuries and as she waited for an ambulance to arrive, she watched as her Nissan Rogue Sport car turned into a “fireball”. Suzanne was then rushed to Flowers Hospital in Dothan, Alabama, US before being airlifted to the trauma centre at UAB Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama, US.
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The 32-year-old was then told she had suffered extensive burns on her inner thighs, groin and bum. The stay-at-home-mum and carer then had to undergo two surgeries including a skin graft to help heal her wounds.
Horrifying photos show Suzanne’s legs covered in raw burns where the vape had exploded on her in the vehicle. It has now been two months since the incident and while her injuries are still healing, Suzanne has prepared herself to be scarred for life from the accident.
The stay-at-home mum is now urging others to stop vaping as she claims she could have died if she didn’t get out of her car as quickly as she did. Suzanne, from Ozark in Alabama, US, said: “I was on the way home from shopping and I was in the car on my own and on hands-free to my husband.
“I was just driving down the road talking to my husband and then the next thing you know, my vape just exploded. It was in my lap and it exploded and I had an immediate reaction. The explosion scared me and my husband could hear me as he was on Bluetooth in my car.
“What he heard was the ‘boom’ of the explosion and me screaming and saying I was on fire and then everything went quiet. He thought I was dead for about 45 seconds. Immediately, my foot pressed the accelerator. I was swerving all over the road. I looked down and saw I was on fire and in that moment I thought I was going to die.
“I had to take my pants off on the side of the highway. I called my husband back and I was crying. By the time I was in the ambulance my car was just one huge fireball on the side of the road.” After being rushed to the Acute Trauma Care Unit at UAB Hospital, Suzanne went into surgery to have her dead skin scraped off wounds cleaned.
She then underwent a skin graft surgery 10 days later where they removed skin from a donor site on her left thigh to place over her burns. Suzanne said: “For the first couple of days, it felt like I was still on fire. I was burning and they had to scrape and clean my skin.
“I was really close to losing my leg, thankfully this did not happen. It was a little bit in my private area but nothing that required surgery there. It was on either side of my inner thighs and reached all the way back halfway up by butt. When I looked at my legs after the first surgery, I couldn’t see how they could get better.
“It looked so bad and it looked like a zombie had attacked me in these areas. I thought I’d be left scarred for life at this point as I didn’t know what to expect after my next surgery.” Suzanne spent a month in hospital recovering from the accident before being discharged and sent home.
While she claims her wounds are healing well, she says she is still dealing with the mental and emotional repercussions of the fire. Suzanne said “My injuries are getting better. I have to put lotion and Vaseline on these areas four or five times a day. The leg where the donor site will be scarred for life and it takes about two years for the graft to settle.
“Right now they look crazy and are purple and prominent but they are healing. The physical pain was agonising but the mental and emotional effects have been much worse. I do not vape anymore and I don’t want to be around a vape.” Suzanne classed herself as an ‘avid’ vaper before the accident but says she will never vape again and is urging others to quit too.
Her friend has also set up a GoFundMe page to help with her recovery and the financial burden of the vape fire. Suzanne said: “I am not now but I was an avid vaper and had smoked for seven years. I was always very meticulous and careful with my vape and I had heard stories about them exploding but usually it was because they had put them in the pocket or purse.
“I always made sure the batteries from my vape were not peeling or old. I bought new batteries every two to four months. I would like to tell people not to vape. I know people think it’s a better alternative to smoking cigarettes but it is completely not worth it. They do blow and this does happen and it can really change your life forever. This could have been my fate. I could not be here if I had got stuck in my car.”
This article was originally published by a www.mirror.co.uk . Read the Original article here. .