A young boy suffered cardiac arrest after attempting TikTok’s “chroming” challenge. His mom is now sharing his story in hopes of preventing others from trying the dangerous trend.
Nichola King found her 12-year-old son Cesar had collapsed into a seizure after attempting TikTok’s “chroming” challenge.
“I heard like a moaning sound from downstairs and thought Cesar had broken a bone or something,” Nichola recalled. “I started going downstairs and saw Cesar lying on the floor and his eyes were rolling back into his head.
When his mom found him, she performed CPR while one of his brothers called for an ambulance. Once the 12-year-old was admitted to the hospital, he went into cardiac arrest and was placed into a medically-induced coma for 48 hours.
“I thought he’d fallen over and hit his head. I had no idea what had happened. He went blue and stopped breathing. I thought he’d died,” Nichola said. “I was in complete shock. I’d watched my son die and watched the light go out of his eyes.”
Cesar was released from the hospital after eight days when he could walk and talk on his own. However, his mom fears the long-term effects of her son’s near-death experience.
“We don’t know about long-term damage, but his short-term memory is very bad. He couldn’t remember what had happened,” she said.
Though Nichola admitted she hadn’t heard of TikTok’s “chroming” challenge, which Cesar was introduced to by an older friend, she shared her son’s story in hopes of protecting others from trying the dangerous trend.
“It’s not worth it. It might feel good but it definitely doesn’t when you’re in the hospital trying to breathe for yourself and the pain you cause to your parents,” she said. Nichola also stressed that parents should be first aid trained.
The challenge, where participants inhale the chemicals of an aerosol can to feel ‘high,’ has already resulted in the death of 11-year-old Tommie-lee Gracie Billington. In March, Billington “died instantly” after participating in the trend and his parents are working to get it taken off TikTok.