A viral TikTok challenge has taken the life of yet another child. The parents of 10-year-old Nyla Anderson of Chester, Pennsylvania, are urging parents to keep tabs on what their kids are watching online after their daughter took part in the “Blackout Challenge” she saw online. Sadly, it wasn’t the first time this challenge has ended in death.
The Blackout Challenge dares participants to hold their breath until they pass out.
This challenge predates social media but has found a resurgence on TikTok, according to The Daily Mail. As for Nyla, she was alone when she gave the challenge a try on December 12.
"She happened to be in her own bedroom of her house, with her family at home," Elizabeth Wood, a licensed clinical social worker at a local hospital, told ABC 7. "But no one was in the bedroom with her when this happened, so there was no one there to save her."
Nyla’s family rushed her to the hospital as soon as they found her unconscious, but it was too late.
Doctors weren’t able to revive Nyla and she was officially declared dead. Medical examiners have yet to reveal an official cause of death, but medical authorities told ABC 7 that a lack of oxygen can lead to cardiac arrest and other serious complications such as significant organ damage, including brain damage.
"I'm so hurt," her mother, Tawainna Anderson, told the news outlet. "This is a pain that won't go away. It's at the top of my throat. I am so hurt."
Nyla is the fifth child over the last year who has died from doing the Blackout Challenge.
According to The New York Post, several children have died from the trend, including 9-year-old LaTerius Smith Jr. who did the challenge in June, a 12-year-old from Oklahoma who recorded herself that same month as she was dying, a 10-year-old Italian girl who was found by her sister in January, and 12-year-old Joshua Haileyesus from Colorado, who found unconscious by his twin brother in March. His father said he used a shoelace to help him see how long he could hold his breath. He died in the hospital three weeks later.
The Blackout Challenge has been around since the ‘90s, although in those days it was spread by word of mouth.
At the time it was called “the choke challenge” or “the fainting game,” The New York Post reported, but the premise was the same as it is today.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention found that between 1995 to 2007 there were 82 probable choking deaths caused by the “choking game.” The report noted that all of the deaths happened to children 6 to 19 years old.
Nyla’s mother told ABC 7 that she was a bright girl.
The girl even knew three languages, but that doesn't mean she wasn't susceptible to the lure of the online trend.
"She was a butterfly,"Anderson said. "She was everything. She was a happy child.”
An obituary noted that besides her mother and grandmother, Nyla is survived by her twin brother Nakye, brothers Kevin and Lamarr, and great-grandfather A. Kerbo.
The mom is using her daughter’s death as an important warning to other parents who might not know what’s going on on their kids’ screens.
"Make sure you check your kids' phones," she urged. "You never know what you might find on their phones. You wouldn't think 10-year-olds would try this. They're trying because they're kids and they don't know better."
