A 16-year-old boy in North Carolina received third-degree burns all over his body while attempting a viral TikTok challenge. Dubbed the "Flamethrower Challenge," it involves using a lighter and a can of spray paint to make a blowtorch. The makeshift blowtorch exploded in the teen's hands, leaving him severely injured. Mason Dark will be hospitalized for the next six months and will have to undergo skin grafts and several surgeries, the Daily Mail reported.
Although some social media challenges are innocent and wholesome, many dangerous and harmful challenges circulate on TikTok that teens and parents need to be aware of. Other teens and children have been injured and have even died from TikTok challenges such as the Benadryl Challenge and Blackout Challenge.
More from CafeMom: 13-Year-Old Dies of Overdose Attempting the TikTok Benadryl Challenge; Parents Warn Others
His family said they heard a loud booming noise on their property one Sunday.
They reportedly heard the loud noise coming from the backyard of their home in North Carolina on April 23, according to the Daily Mail. Mason Dark's mother, Holli Dark, said she heard a loud sound and saw her son run outside and jump into a river next to their house, per Comic Sands.
Apparently he was participating in a TikTok challenge that required using a lighter and can of spray paint to make a blowtorch, but it exploded in the teen's hands. Mason Dark was rushed to the UNC Burn Center, where he will be staying for quite some time, according to the Daily Mail.
His mother said they didn't realize the extent of his injuries until he underwent the first of many surgeries. "[We] come to find out now from the surgery, that he’s got the third-degree burns, it’s like a T in his back and it was from him taking off his shirt, and then it got stuck or something. We did not find out until yesterday that it was actually 76 percent of his body," she shared.
His mom said he is ‘unrecognizable’ and the teen has a long road to recovery ahead of him.
Mason Dark’s family shared on a GoFundMe account that her son is a very active 16-year-old who loves football, running track, and his job, and he is looking forward to getting his driver's license.
Holli Dark reportedly said her son was barely recognizable after the incident. “The way he looked when those kids saw him when he first came in, to what he looks like now, it’s 100 times different,” she said, per the Daily Mail.
In addition to the third-degree burns that require surgeries, Mason Dark is also at risk for infection from the river water. “He jumped into a river to extinguish the flames. The risk of infection from the river water is high, on top of having 2nd and 3rd degree burns,” Holli Dark wrote on the GoFundMe page.
More from CafeMom: Latest 'Squid Game' Challenge Is Leaving Kids With Burns So Severe They Need Skin Grafts
The family posted an update on social media, noting that they don’t want other families to go through this.
Mason Dark's grandmother posted an update on Facebook, with his mother and several others sharing information on the teen's current health and expressing gratitude for GoFundMe donations. So far nearly $60,000 has been raised of the $100,000 goal. The family also shared in the Facebook post that they don't want other families to experience accidents like this.
"Update on Mason is published on the site. We truly can’t thank each and everyone of you enough for the support! As we’ve said, Mason has a long road ahead of him, even after the 6 months or so in the hospital," the family's post read. "Parents please speak to your children about the dangers of fire and aerosols. We don’t want any other family to suffer through this! God will see him through!"
There are a lot of opinions about who is at fault.
Readers of the Daily Mail article covering Mason Dark’s heartbreaking story had differing opinions about whether it was the teen's fault, TikTok's, or his parents'.
“TikTok is destroying an entire generation,” one reader commented.
“Parents to this clearly dumb generation need to be parents. Seriously wth is wrong with everyone,” someone else commented.
Still other readers pointed out that teenagers have always done dangerous things without the help of social media. “I'm almost 40 and remember teen boys doing this when I was a kid,” one person shared.
“Spray painting the asphalt and lighting it on fire. We were all stupid at some point and this isnt the first generation to discover fire," another person wrote. "We just didnt have instant rewind and forever video. Most of us just got lucky. Poor kid hope he can overcome this and achieve his dreams.”
