The family of a young mom in New Zealand is pushing to educate people after she died from asphyxiation after inhaling helium. The woman was setting up for her daughter’s birthday party when others urged her to suck the gas directly from the canister instead of from a balloon. They had no idea it was a deadly decision.
Now, her family is fighting for clearer labels on canisters. They believe that if she had been more adequately warned of the danger of inhaling helium directly, she’d still be alive today.
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Faith Waterman Batistich, a 20-year-old mom from the town of Te Puke in New Zealand, was setting up for her daughter’s first birthday party in September 2022 when she died. Everyone was using a helium canister to fill the birthday balloons. They then began inhaling helium from the balloons to make their voices sound high. It’s not an uncommon party trick that people have done for years.
They had no idea that the seemingly harmless fun was going to kill their loved one.
“Everyone jumped on the bandwagon like, ‘oh, that’s so funny,‘” the woman’s twin, Eden Waterman, told The New Zealand Herald. So when someone suggested inhaling helium directly from the canister, it didn’t seem dangerous.
According to Eden Waterman, her twin wasn’t easily convinced, but eventually relented. It was as she inhaled that someone turned up the flow of the gas.
“It went too fast and kind of shot her in the back of the neck. Her last words were literally, ‘Oh s—’ and she dropped,” Eden Waterman explained. “I thought she was putting it on at the start.”
The young woman “went blue instantly.” Her mom Diane Waterman and a cousin did CPR on the mom of toddlers for 45 minutes while they waited for paramedics. When they arrived, they continued efforts for another 20 minutes. But the could not revive her.
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Helium is a colorless, odorless gas. Inhaling helium displaces the oxygen in a person’s lungs, causing low blood oxygen, known as hypoxia. This causes damage to the body and is ultimately deadly.
“It wouldn’t matter whether she was even in a hospital environment when it happened, there’s no coming back from it,” Diane Waterman told the outlet. Eden Waterman added that her twin was “gone instantly,” and “didn’t suffer.”
For them, life hasn’t been the same without Faith, who they described as “bright and bubbly.” As a result of her death, they can’t even be around helium because it’s too upsetting.
In New Zealand, helium canisters can be purchased in stores. The Waterman family would like to see restrictions on helium sales to save others from suffering from the same kind of grief.
“This is a known party pleaser. Many people are, however, unaware of the potential threats of inhaling helium in such a situation. What may seem like harmless fun is potentially life-threatening,” coroner Louella Dunn told The New Zealand Herald.
“The canister’s warnings are in very small print. The warning relevant to dangers of inhalation is the last warning of five other listed warnings,” she said. Given the size and placement, she believes consumers “would be unaware of the potential risk of inhaling helium from a pressurized canister.”
“I recommend that the warning should be in bold print at the top of the canister stating: ‘Do not inhale — risk of serious personal injury or death’.”
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