A 10-year-old girl has been reported dead after she accidentally choked herself until she fainted while attempting an internet phenomenon called the "Blackout challenge." The notorious "Blackout challenge" is a TikTok trend that dares participants to try and hold their breath until the point of losing consciousness.
The girl, Nyla Anderson, 10, reportedly attempted the viral trend while alone in her bedroom at her parents' home on Dec. 7. When her mother Tawainna Anderson went to check on her, she found the toddler lying unconscious in her bedroom.
The young Anderson was immediately rushed to a hospital for treatment and spent the next few days in the pediatric intensive care unit. Unfortunately, Anderson eventually succumbed to her serious condition and died on Dec. 12, seven days after she was first admitted to the facility, the Independent reported.
The young girl reportedly spoke three languages and was an athletic and bright girl. Her mother described her as a “happy child” who loved learning languages.
“She was a butterfly,” her mother, Tawainna Anderson, of Chester, Pennsylvania, said.
Tawainna is now using her daughter's tragic death to warn other parents about the dangers of children following dangerous social media “challenges.” She called on parents to regularly check their children’s phones for potentially harmful content, Today reported.
“I just want people to pay attention and be aware of TikTok … Just pay attention because you never know what you might find on their phones or the things they try. They’re trying because they’re kids and they don’t know better,” she said.
The "Blackout challenge," which is also sometimes called the choking game or fainting game, is a dangerous trend that has been circulating on the internet for years now. Several incidents of children who have died while performing the challenge have been reported all over the world.
“There have been different variations of it but the idea is that an individual stops the flow of oxygen,” Elizabeth Wood, a licensed clinical social worker at Nemours Children’s Hospital, Delaware, where Anderson was treated, said. “People may think that they can get sort of a high from it.”
Studies prove that holding your breath for a long period of time can lead to cardiac arrest and organ damage.
In January, Italian authorities temporarily blocked TikTok accounts after a 10-year-old girl similarly died performing the "Blackout challenge."
A memorial service for the young Anderson will be held on Dec. 24.
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