Hollyoaks star rushed to hospital as family warned ‘he might not make it’

Paul Danan has revealed that he had to be given CPR after he suffered respiratory failure brought on by his addiction to vapes.

The 45-year-old star of Love Island and Hollyoaks has said that he had to be brought back to life after he collapsed last month and spent a week in intensive care, where he then contracted pneumonia. The actor has blamed his years of smoking for his health battle.

Paul said that his family were warned by doctors at Whipps Cross hospital, East London, that “he might not make it through the night” and admits that “it’s a miracle I’m here,” after he “died” following his collapse at his parents’ home.

Speaking to The Sun on Sunday, Paul said: “I’m upstairs puffing away on my vape then suddenly I lost my breath and collapsed. My family called for an ambulance and started giving me CPR, then police arrived and took over before paramedics took me to hospital. I was on a machine in ICU and ended up with pneumonia. My family were warned I might not make it through the night. I’m so lucky.”

The soap star also revealed that doctors told him straight the reasons why he was in such a critical position. He said: “The doctor was so, so harsh with me. She told me, ‘Paul, you don’t know how serious this was and you are going to be in here for a while now, on this oxygen’. She said if I ever smoke in any form again I risk being linked to an oxygen tank later on in life. She said that’s it now.”

Paul, who starred in the original 2005 series of Celebrity Love Island, added: “After years of smoking cigarettes and all sorts, it’s the vaping which has done me in. That pushed me over the edge.”

The reality star has had a history of addiction, battling drugs and alcohol in the past but he has said that he has been clean for more than three years. He quit smoking cigarettes in 2021 but became addicted to vapes instead.

He said that the flavours and “a YouTube video” convinced him that vaping was safer than cigarettes, adding that his ADHD had made “everything very visual” and “always thought they’d be OK.”

While experts have said that vapes are better for users than cigarettes, they still contain nicotine, which is addictive and that the NHS have said it “is not completely harmless”.

Paul said that he became “obsessed” with disposable vapes but he is “worried about the kids today, all you see is kids with vapes.”

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