"Addictions to electronic cigarettes are derailing the dreams of promising young athletes, leaving them struggling to breathe, keep up with their teammates and find motivation to practice.
Take Cade Beauparlant, 18, of Newburyport, Massachusetts.
Beauparlant first laced up hockey skates when he was just a few years old, and fell in love with the sport. "Hockey was my life," he told NBC News.
His abilities on the ice developed rapidly. Hockey coaches and recruiters had their eyes on Beauparlant starting in middle school.
"He was such a hard-working, motivated, skillful young kid. He was our best defenseman," Paul Yameen, Beauparlant's high school hockey coach, said. "As soon as he started [vaping], everything changed."
Beauparlant said he was introduced to e-cigarettes during a sleepover with friends in eighth grade. He began "Juuling" in ninth grade, referring to the Juul brand of e-cigarettes, by far the most popular among teens.
Within a year, Beauparlant said he was "extremely addicted," to Juul pods. One pod has roughly the same amount of nicotine as an entire pack of cigarettes, according to Truth Initiative, a nonprofit organization that advocates for tobacco cessation."