A man is in the hospital after an e-cigarette exploded in his face. 
 
 29-year-old Cordero Caples is a Memphis native living in Colorado Springs, Colorado. 
 
 Caples is in critical condition with a shattered vertebrae. He have to have surgery to give himself a chance to walk again. He also has multiple fractures, a hole in his mouth, and a broken neck. 
 
 His family said Caples was smoking an e-cigarette on his work break Friday when it blew up in his mouth. 
 
 "At this time he's actually in surgery as a result of an e-cigarette device exploding in his mouth damaging his teeth,” Caples' sister Colessia Porter said. “It knocked his teeth out, created facial fractures for him, and his neck is broken.” 
 
 Porter said he took on the first of many surgeries Sunday afternoon. Doctors began an extensive spinal reconstruction, lasting several hours. 
 
 "Any sudden move can cause him to be in a paralyzed state, and that is something we done want," Porter said. "He's going to need 24-hour care for a while and constant monitoring from family and friends and loved ones. You know it is heart breaking, but we're going to bond together.” 
 
 According to the Colorado Springs Fire Department, emergency crews responded to the medical call at his job, and the incident is still under investigation. 
 
 "This E-cig almost took my brother's life,” Porter said. “And at this point, we don't know what his status is going to be moving forward." 
 
 Caples, who was studying to be a personal trainer, is the father of a 1-year-old girl. 
 
 The accused maker of the e-cigarette that exploded is based in China. 
 
 The hospital confirmed Caples is in fair condition following surgery. 
 
 A GoFundMe page was created to help pay for Cordero's medical expenses. Click here to donate. 
 
 Copyright 2015 WMC Action News 5. All rights reserved. ||||| The injuries a college student sustained when an electronic cigarette exploded in his face could have been prevented if the man had been taught to use the e-cigarette properly, a smoke shop employee told FOX13. Meanwhile, the man's family is sharing their story to try to keep the same accident from happening to another person. 
 
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 Cordero Caples, a Memphis Native, was in surgery at a hospital in Colorado Springs, Colo. for most of the day Sunday. Caples had a fractured vertebrae, facial fractures, and busted teeth, among other injuries, after an electronic cigarette exploded Friday. 
 
 "It’s going to be a long, intensive recovery process," Colessia Porter, the victim's sister said. "I ask that the City of Memphis keep us in your prayers. We need them. He needs them." 
 
 Caples is a college student in Colorado, studying to be a person trainer. Porter said doctors aren't sure if her brother will be able to walk again. 
 
 "He has a very outgoing personality. He’s that guy that can do whatever in the world he wants to do," Porter said. "He’s really, really into fitness, and he’s really good at it. That’s what he was in school to do, but with an injury like this, it puts those things in question. I’m just hopeful he can make a speedy recovery and a full recovery." 
 
 An employee at VaporWize, a smoke shop in Memphis, immediately noticed something hazardous when FOX13 showed her the picture of Caples' combusted e-cigarette. 
 
 "This is way too powerful to power this," Mary Grace Burns said as she described the pieces Caples used for his vaporizer. "Way too hot of a battery. You can have a way-too-high amped battery in there or something like that could easily misfire and cause something like that. It's operator error though." 
 
 E-cigarettes are sold in parts. The two main parts are the battery tank and the coil on top that heats to create the vapor. Burns said the combination that made up Caples' cigarette was incompatible. 
 
 Burns said e-cigarette users should buy their products from trusted stores, and be weary of online dealers. 
 
 "They think it's just an easy little hobby, but they aren't watching the videos on YouTube of how to do it, or coming in here, to get us to teach them how to do it," Burns said. 
 
 FOX13 asked the smoke shop employee if e-cigarettes are safe. 
 
 "Completely, 100 percent," Burns said, "As long as you get direct instruction, and you know what you're doing, and you feel comfortable enough to do it, I think it's completely safe. 
 
 Caples does not have insurance, and the family is struggling to pay his hospital bills. If you would like to help, you can donate to Caples' GoFundMe account. Click here to help: https://www.gofundme.com/knbwfd9w. 
 
 "I come from the great state of Tennessee," Porter said. "We have great people in the City of Memphis, and we believe in helping one another. So I ask my city to help us in this transition." ||||| E-cigarettes could be more dangerous than normal cigarettes. 
 
 Especially if the smoking device can blow up in your face, like it did for 29-year-old Cordero Caples, a Memphis native living in Colorado Springs. 
 
 FLORIDA MAN IN COMA AFTER E-CIG EXPLODES IN FACE: FAMILY 
 
 Caples was smoking the e-cig Friday during a work break when the device exploded, breaking his neck, burning his mouth and knocking out his teeth, his sister Colessia Porter said. The Colorado college student was rushed to Memorial Hospital in critical condition, and underwent a successful spinal surgery on Sunday night, she told the Daily News. 
 
 "He could have lost his life," she said. "There's people that have lost limbs from this. We cannot have something of this magnitude happening to people." 
 
 Cordero Caples, 29, was in critical condition in a Colorado Springs hospital after an electronic cigarette exploded in his face. (GoFundMe) Caples suffered a broken neck, burns on his mouth and a broken tooth. (GoFundMe) 
 
 The victim, who is a father of a 1-year-old girl, was almost paralyzed for life from the explosive-cigarette. He came out of the spinal reconstruction surgery in stable condition, Porter said. She said he was suffering immense pain prior to the surgery, and was relieved, but still aching from the incident. He told her he didn't know that the vaping devices could become dangerous handheld bombs. 
 
 "If he knew that he was dealing with something that would explode on him, he definitely wouldn't have put himself in that situation," she said. 
 
 Caples' dreams of becoming a fitness trainer could be dashed because of this accident, his sister said. His family, including his 1-year-old daughter, has been distraught about the e-cig blow up. 
 
 "It's devastating to see a healthy man with all his strength be put in a position where he can possibly be paralyzed from an e-cig," she told the Daily News. 
 
 The remnants of the e-cigarette that exploded and sent Caples to the hospital in Colorado Springs. (GoFundMe) 
 
 Explosions with the e-cigs have been linked to faulty batteries, research from the U.S. Fire Administration showed. 
 
 "E-cigarette manufacturers should consider changing to a different style of electrical connection," the October 2014 study said. "The inclusion of protection circuits into the e-cigarette device would improve battery safety." 
 
 Porter said the dangerous device needs to be taken off the market until it's properly regulated to prevent these accidents. 
 
 The portion of the e-cig that Caples was smoking from that survived the blast was from Kangertech, a Chinese company founded in 2007. The company said it upholds the "highest quality standards," according to its website. The company did not respond to a Daily News' request for comment. Porter said her family was speaking with lawyers and considering suing the e-cigarette company responsible for the explosion. 
 
 A GoFundMe for Caples' medical bills was created on Sunday, and had raised $160 as of Monday afternoon. 
 
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– Doctors are unsure if Cordero Caples will ever walk again after an e-cigarette exploded in the 29-year-old college student’s face on Friday, My FOX Memphis reports. Caples, who resides in Colorado Springs, Colo., was using the device during a work break when it exploded, his sister, Colessia Porter tells WMC in Memphis, Tenn. Caples is a Memphis native. The explosion left Caples with a shattered vertebrae, a broken neck, facial fractures, and broken teeth, according to the Daily News and other outlets. "He’s really, really into fitness, and he’s really good at it," Porter tells FOX. “That’s what he was in school to do. But with an injury like this, it puts those things in question." Caples, who has a 1-year-old daughter, was in fair condition Sunday after a surgery. As e-cigarettes grow in popularity, stories of them catastrophically malfunctioning have been making headlines. Earlier this month, an Arkansas man suffered shattered teeth, severed lips, and burns resulting from an e-cig explosion. In October, a Kansas man suffered burns to his hand when his e-cigarette blew up, KAKE reports. Regarding Caples’ case, a smoke shop employee tells FOX his e-cig had "way too hot of a battery," one that was perhaps incompatible with the device. "They think it's just an easy little hobby, but they aren't watching the videos on YouTube of how to do it, or coming in here to get us to teach them how to do it," says Mary Grace Burns. A GoFundMe has been page set up for Caples. (This man was put into a medically induced coma after his e-cig exploded.)