Manchester woman, 22, warns against vaping after terminal cancer gives her 18 months to live

A Manchester woman who was given 18 months to live after being diagnosed with lung cancer is now warning others to take heed and stop smoking and vaping.

Kayley Boda, a retail assistant from Manchester, has been smoking and using reusable vapes since she was 15 years old.

via SWNS

She only started using disposable vapes a few months before her cancer symptoms started.

In November 2024, Kayley 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.

via SWNS

Kayley was getting through one 600-puff a week when she started coughing up a brown substance with grainy bits.

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

via SWNS

When the coughing continued she went to the doctors but was repeatedly told she just had chest infection, with doctors ignoring her concerns eight times.

In March 2025, Kayley then began coughing up blood, and went back to the doctors, where they gave her a chest x-ray, and told her they had found a shadow on her lower right lung.

“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,” she said

Seven biopsies later, she was told she had stage one lung cancer.

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In September, she had surgery to remove the lower lobe of her right lung. During the surgery, doctors found cancer in six surrounding lymph nodes and escalated her cancer to stage three.

Following the surgery, Kayley was unable to breathe properly and had to learn to walk again.

After finishing chemotherapy in February 2026, Kayley was finally given the all clear.

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 the fluid removed, but when doctors tested it, they discovered her cancer had returned and gave 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.

“When I got the all clear it felt amazing, but just two months later I was told the cancer had come back, and I have 18 months to live.

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

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

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

Kayley said: “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 is now hoping to raise £20,000 for a clinical trial in Germany to help prolong her life.

Featured Image via SWNS