Safety First Kids and Social Media

A Mothers Love is Forever~~

Austin Cole Gillentine 1994-2007

In Loving Memory

Another Angel 

and a Mother's Love

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

     

Pinterest and The Choking Game who guessed?

Tonight I searched my favorite website Pinterest for pins about "The Choking Game" thinking that Pinterest was just for cute crafty home kind of stuff, and I was totally wrong. I did find many pins that mentioned TCG so I created a board dedicated to safety and our children. You can find my Pinterest tab to the right on the sidebar. If you are on Pinterest search #Chokinggame #kidssafety for other interesting pins to add to your own boards. Pinterest is a great way to connect your educational efforts also with others and spread the word and cause to help stop the choking game, especially if you link your Pinterest with Twitter and Facebook! 

Pins from search of "choking game" 

pinned to my own "safety and our kids first" board

                                                                              Source: parenting-source.com via Leslie on Pinterest

                                                               Source: pattyinglishms.hubpages.com via Leslie on Pinterest

                                                                               Source: gaspinfo.com via Leslie on Pinterest

                                                                  Source: healtharticlesforkids.org via Leslie on Pinterest

Great Video from YouTube! All these kids lost their lives to this deadly game.

 Spread the word and save a life.

     

Please share this information with others so we can save a life! Please re-pin!

Wild Farm Kids lost an Angel to the Choking Game

I wanted to share the outstanding work at this website to help further educate
others about the "Choking Game". Sadly a child's life was lost, another angel in heaven, read this post via the website by founder and big sister KeriGlenn, talking about the night her little brother died. Kudo's to your work "Wild Farm Kids"


The Game That Could Win Your Life.
November 21^st 2011, this day was my little sisters 7^th birthday and the day that has forever changed my life. My family had a small birthday party planned for my sister at my grandparents. The basketball games I was at coaching my cheerleaders went into overtime, so I didn’t get done until about 9:15 that night. I hurried to my grandparents to have cake and ice cream with them, but by the time I got there, they were getting ready to leave. I said hi and bye to all my siblings, then headed back to campus.
I no more than got in the parking lot and my mom called me screaming so loud that I couldn’t understand anything she was saying. I then got her to talk slower and she said the most heart breaking words I have ever heard, “Joshua is dead!” I dropped my phone and burst into tears, I couldn’t breathe, and I instantly turned back around and sped home. I got about a half mile out of town and got pulled over for speeding. I was a wreck. I told the cop what was going on and he didn’t believe me, so he had to call dispatch to see that I was telling the truth.
By the time I got close to my house I could see a light show from all the cop cars that were surrounding my parent’s home. I couldn’t get into my driveway so I drove through my neighbor’s yard to get to my parents. The look on my dad’s face, made me know this was real. My mom was crying, talking like she was talking to herself, but out loud. She said, “His eyes were lifeless and glazed, his skin was blue, all I wanted to do was hold him but they wouldn’t let me.” I tried talking to her but all she could say was, “They told me to prepare for the worst, but I know he’s already gone.”
The drive to the hospital was the longest drive of my life. Once we got there they wouldn’t let me in his room. So many EMT’s and ME’s were in the room working on him. I just wanted to go in there with him. Once they let me in, I held his hand, kissed his cheek, tried closing his eyes and talking to him. I knew he was gone, but my mind wouldn’t let me accept it.
We were fielding questions, going through all of his things, and trying to find peace of knowing what really happened and started the funeral planning process. I took on the “big sister” role, and helped plan his visitation and funeral. I never thought I would be able to do this, but I did and it was the most rewarding thing I have ever done. I did it because I knew my parents needed the help. There were so many people there; it was completely amazing to see all the love and support we got from everyone.
Joshua was 13 years old, a 7^th grader who was on the A honor roll, loved football, wrestling, drawing, singing, outdoors, 4-H and everything else a little boy loves. He had the biggest heart and a contagious smile that could light up a room. A few days after he died we found out the cause of his death, it was from “the choking game”. This is something that none of our family knew he was doing, but when we were told about it and what it entails, we found that the warning signs were all over. They included things like; headaches, itchy eyes, off sleep patterns, marks on his bunk bed, robe ties in his room, and the fact that he was a 13 year old adventurous boy.
Since this happened I have been so invested in the “choking game”. I have found that it is more common than people think. It isn’t something that people really admit to or talk about, but it is going on everywhere, probably even in your neighborhood. When someone participates in this, they are cutting the oxygen supply from their brain, for a short term high, which as a result kills brain cells and can be fatal. This isn’t a game and if people are doing it, I hope that this is a wakeup call to them to stop. The affects of this not only hurts yourself, but also everyone that loves and cares about you.
KeriGlenn
 http://wildfarmkids.com/

Be ExtraOrdinary!

Make a difference in the life of someone this week

Be that extraordinary person that

is inside you!

You are the Change the world wants so desperately to see!

What is a Space Monkey? or Space Junkie?

Just what on this earth or up in space is a "space monkey"? Not a Tv show cartoon character, or a cute little monkey that plays games so harmlessly.

Definitions via The Urban Dictionary : 

  Space Monkey is a game that teens play where a person either chokes his/herself or has someone else do it until they almost pass out. It can cause brain damage due to lack of oxygen to the brain.

 A game played by boys and girls ages 10-20 who can't manage to get their hands on any weed. Choking yourself causes lack of oxygen to the brain and can cause oneself to lose consciousness or die. Kids think that it makes them feel high, while really it just destroys their brain.

Accurate definitions? pretty much 

Not just in the United States, this problem is a global problem! 

An article from the UK based "Sky News" reports 

Roddy Mansfield, Sky News Online

Children are 'strangling' themselves to get high then sharing the videos on the internet, campaign groups have warned.  

Nicknamed "Space Monkey", the practice involves squeezing the carotid arteries in the neck to restrict the flow of blood to the head.

Releasing the pressure leads to a sudden rush of oxygen to the brain, giving a feeling of euphoria. But it can lead to brain damage, un-consciousness and death.

The craze is well known in the US and France and parents and campaign groups fear it is now catching on in the UK.
The US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention claims in the last ten years 86 children may have died in the UK playing 'the choking game'.
There are no official figures for Britain, although the Department for Children, Schools and Families claims it is aware of the problem.
You-tube videos seen by Sky News show youths taking it in turns to squeeze each others necks before appearing to lose consciousness.
In one British video a teenager is seen hyperventilating before having his arteries crushed before passing out.

The practice can cause unconsciousness by restricting blood and oxygen to the brain

A YouTube spokesman told Sky News: "YouTube is a community site used by millions of people in very positive ways. Sadly as with any form of communication, there is a tiny minority of people who try to break the rules.
"If content breaks our terms then we remove it and if a user repeatedly breaks the rules we disable their account."
Teenagers are also sharing instructional videos to show others how it's done and using scarves and ropes to choke themselves. Others are posting Space Monkey reports online.
On a Yahoo forum, Baay, writes: "Just as I passed out I said 'it's so scary'.
"Then I fainted and I started like having a fit or something like shaking, was it a fit? And my eyes were open and rolling back.
"Now everyone is doing it at school, and apparently if I was doing all this I could of died, is that true?"
Professor Steve Field, chairman of the Royal College of General Practitioners, told Sky News: "First you get asphyxia anoxia which is a lack of oxygen to the brain, then you get a sudden rush of oxygen to the brain.
"Children are copying what they see in the videos and think they'll get a similar high to taking drugs.
"It is a significant problem which hasn't yet been picked up by parents and teachers.
"Not only is it difficult to prove how many people have died, we don't know how many near misses there have been."

 The practice can cause unconsciousness by restricting blood and oxygen to the brain

 Children are filming themselves choking each other and sharing the videos online

Space Monkey?

or

Space Junkie?

 or 

Dead

you choose

 make the right choice, choose life! 

 

Sniff me, Snort me, Suck me up

 

What Types of Products Are Abused as Inhalants?

 Inhalants are commonly known as Glue, Kick, Bang, Sniff, Huff, Poppers, Whippets, and Texas Shoeshine.

Chance are most of these substances are right there in your kitchen,garage or pantry. If I try it just one time to see what if might do to my body, it won't hurt..............or will it? 

Magic question~ do you want to find out?  

Inhalants generally fall into the following categories:
Volatile solvents—liquids that vaporize at room temperature

• Industrial or household products, including paint thinners or removers, degreasers, dry-cleaning fluids, gasoline, and lighter fluid
• Art or office supply solvents, including correction fluids, felt-tip marker fluid, electronic contact cleaners, and glue

Aerosols—sprays that contain propellants and solvents

• Household aerosol propellants in items such as spray paints, hair or deodorant sprays, fabric protector sprays, aerosol computer cleaning products, and vegetable oil sprays

Gases—found in household or commercial products and used as medical anesthetics

• Household or commercial products, including butane lighters and propane tanks, whipped cream aerosols or dispensers (whippets), and refrigerant gases
• Medical anesthetics, such as ether, chloroform, halothane, and nitrous oxide (“laughing gas”)

Nitrites—a special class of inhalants that are used primarily as sexual enhancers

• Organic nitrites are volatiles that include cyclohexyl, butyl, and amyl nitrites, commonly known as “poppers.” Amyl nitrite is still used in certain diagnostic medical procedures. When marketed for illicit use, organic nitrites are often sold in small brown bottles labeled as “video head cleaner,” “room odorizer,” “leather cleaner,” or “liquid aroma.”

These various products contain a wide range of chemicals such as—

• toluene (spray paints, rubber cement, gasoline), 
• chlorinated hydrocarbons (dry-cleaning chemicals, correction fluids),
• hexane (glues, gasoline),
• benzene (gasoline),
• methylene chloride (varnish removers, paint thinners),
• butane (cigarette lighter refills, air fresheners), and
• nitrous oxide (whipped cream dispensers, gas cylinders).

How Do Inhalants Affect the Brain?

The effects of inhalants are similar to those of alcohol, including slurred speech, lack of coordination, euphoria, and dizziness. Inhalant abusers may also experience lightheadedness, hallucinations, and delusions. With repeated inhalations, many users feel less inhibited and less in control. Some may feel drowsy for several hours and experience a lingering headache. Chemicals found in different types of inhaled products may produce a variety of additional effects, such as confusion, nausea, or vomiting.
By displacing air in the lungs, inhalants deprive the body of oxygen, a condition known as hypoxia. Hypoxia can damage cells throughout the body, but the cells of the brain are especially sensitive to it. The symptoms of brain hypoxia vary according to which regions of the brain are affected: for example, the hippocampus helps control memory, so someone who repeatedly uses inhalants may lose the ability to learn new things or may have a hard time carrying on simple conversations.
Long-term inhalant abuse can also break down myelin, a fatty tissue that surrounds and protects some nerve fibers. Myelin helps nerve fibers carry their messages quickly and efficiently, and when damaged, can lead to muscle spasms and tremors or even permanent difficulty with basic actions such as walking, bending, and talking.

Lethal = Dead -- one way road to your coffin

Sniffing highly concentrated amounts of the chemicals in solvents or aerosol sprays can directly induce heart failure and death within minutes of a session of repeated inhalation. This syndrome, known as “sudden sniffing death,” can result from a single session of inhalant use by an otherwise healthy young person. Sudden sniffing death is particularly associated with the abuse of butane, propane, and chemicals in aerosols.

Sudden Death can occur the first time you try inhalants! or the 100th time you try them, it's not choosy. All your luck it will be your first time!

Sniff Me, Snort Me, Suck me Up and Die!! Stupid is as Stupid Does!! Don't Be Stupid!!

Choose Life!! 

Enduring the death of a child is heartbreaking- Do something!

Help us save the lives of countless children that die every year senselessly: Please join us and sign this petition, send it to your Congress and have the letters hand delivered to them also, I did! Make your voice know this year, an election year I might add.

http://www.petition2congress.com/5809/stop-choking-game/

This is what the petition says:

There is an alarming wave of deaths among our country’s youth; a wave that continues to go unnoticed by mainstream media. Adolescents across the nation are victims of unintentional fatalities caused by their participation in the “choking game” and though known by many names, the intent is to pass out purposely for amusement or for a “buzz”. This silent epidemic that focuses the most brutal results on our very young middle schoolers, remains hidden from public attention because currently there is no way to accurately track and report the number of cases. This lack of statistical proof also limits prevention efforts promoted by the grass-roots organization of the thousands of grieving families who have lost a child to this insidious “game”.

As your constituent, I have signed my name below to ask that you help us help our children by doing the following:

1. Call the CDC and request to be briefed on the issue of the “choking game”.

2. Support the CDC and the Department of Health and Human Services by requesting that the World Health Organization add a sub code that includes the “choking game” as a cause of death.

3. Include the “choking game” among the health-risk behaviors that contribute to the leading causes of death and disability among youth in the CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), and make the YRBS affordable and accessible for all states.

4. Support the CDC’s Division of Adolescent and School Health (DASH) model of education as the means to disseminate information regarding the “choking game”.


Enduring the death of a child is heartbreaking. As my representative to Congress, I ask that you help me prevent other families from this heartache by showing your support in establishing statistical evidence of the “choking game,” Your efforts will assist us in heightening awareness among teens and their parents, teachers, and health care providers.

 Add the widget to your website here  http://www.petition2congress.com/5809/stop-choking-game/gwt/ 

12 Terrifying Teen 'Games' Your Kid Could Be Playing

 Credit to Jeanne Sager- Cafemom- The Stir
Taken from great article posted:

30 Seconds Game: You may know it as a knowledge game akin to charades. But among kids, it's generally accepted that playing 30 Seconds means kids fight as hard as they can for half a minute, and the onlookers declare a "winner." By some definitions, the fighting requires punching someone directly in the face, repeatedly.

Skittling: Forget about the yummy candy. Think about what is in your medicine cabinet, because this "game" involves teens raiding Mom and Dad's pills, throwing them all into one pot, and then grabbing a random handful of colorful little capsules, downing them in one incredibly dangerous swallow.

ABC Game: It sounds educational, doesn't it? But this twisted form of Scattegories has almost killed kids who have the letters of the alphabet scratched into their hand over and over by a "friend" as they're forced to name off items in a particular category that begin with each letter of the alphabet (hence ABC). The scratcher continues until the competitor makes it all the way through the alphabet, cutting deeper and deeper into the skin, often leaving behind infected wounds.

Hide and Seek: Oooh, we used to play this when we were little, right? Not exactly. The teen version involves, what else, cars. The hiders turn off their headlights, and the seeker has to find them on the dark road. Of course, no one else can see the darkened cars, and inexperienced teen drivers without headlights can't see where they're going.

Ghosting: There's no seeker in this game, just a bunch of kids who turn off the headlights and drive as fast as they can. I don't really have to describe the risks, do I?

European Vacation: Yet another reason to make you fear the trip to the DMV, this "trip" involves one teen driver motoring in the right lane while their pal moves over to the left lane to drive beside them.

Sack Tapping: Remember when you used to punch your friends in the arm to make it go dead? That was nothing compared to the pain suffered when a boy is hit in the, ahem, balls, and subsequently loses his testicle.

Trunking: Forcing a pal to ride in the trunk of a car may sound reasonable if you've watched too many mob movies, but it's been known to actually kill kids.

Surfing: Oh, if this only involved water. Riding atop a moving car is something done for generations, and yet kids are still dumb enough to do it, often with disastrous results.

Robotripping: Drinking cough syrup like it's a bottle of water, this is supposed to help kids hallucinate. Unfortunately, it can also kill them.

Planking: It's not just for kids, and yet it's still dangerous to lie face down in a random spot for laughs. If you're doing it in the middle of the road, you risk getting run over. Doing it on a balcony? Well, you could fall several stories like the Australian man killed last year.

Choking Game: Just because it's the game that gets the most press doesn't mean kids aren't still trying to achieve a high by cutting off the oxygen to the brain. This can knock kids unconscious or, much worse, cause brain damage or even death. Exact affects are hard to track, because choking game deaths are simply labeled as suicides. The CDC estimates 800 to 1,000 kids between the ages of 10 to 19 die of strangulation every year, and sadly that includes some kids who just thought they were playing a game. It's also called the fainting game, pass-out, good kids high, and choking off, among other names.

Of course we here at Ed4Ed4all are very familiar with many of these, the choking game being one of the most deadly right now, all of these "games" are so very dangerous.

So many Angels~~ still so many stupid people~

So many angels lost and yet why do people still not believe that their kids might
actually be involved in such behavior. Today I read a great article on Cafemom  the "12 Terrifying Teen Games your kids are playing". And as I read the comments I realized how numb parents and teens can be to the real dangers that our kids are faced with everyday, not just teens, but younger children are even faced with youth risk behaviors like "the choking game" or "the pass out game". All of these deadly games are real!! These games injure and kill our kids!

Ask the parents of each and every kid that lost their life in the poster above, that is just a very small portion of the number of dead kids, just from the choking game, there are many more....

The comments below will upset many supporters of our site:

Here is one person "Cass" who is clueless: her comment scares me--

quoted:"Cass" Neither I, nor any teen I know, is dumb enough to do any of these (except perhaps the planking, although there's no way any of then would do it in a dangerous way). I would bet good money that half of these were made up simply for the purposes of scaring moms watching the local news. Seriously, people- if your kid is doing anything this stupid, you made some big mistakes. 

quoted: "Anon" Besides the occasional trunking, surfing, and planking, I don't know of any teen doing these. I agree with Cass. It's like that rumor of rainbow parties- once word got out that kids "did" that, the media picked it up and ran with it. But there was never any evidence that it actually happened. I call BS on most of these. Anything involving drug mixing or chugging is really only a few people, who were already into other harder stuff. 

quoted: "Cass"Thank you, Anon. I'm rather sick of being treated as though I have neither a brain nor a sense of self preservation simply because I'm a teenager. Ridiculous stories like these do not help my credibility. 

quoted: "ohmyskittles:  if you think teens are actually playing these games, you are stupid. I agree with Cass and Anon. Teens are not the monsters that you mommy bloggers make them out to be. If you teen ACTUALLY IS playing these games,you should have raised them better. Your fault for being a bad parent. 

These are the people we need to work so hard to educate!
Any parent of a child who has died from any deadly "game" will agree that they were not at fault nor were a "bad parent", most of these parents are exceptional parents, those comments are cruel and uncalled for. 


Wake up people and get smart!  the 33 kids on that poster should be enough to show you that yes people are doing it!! And Dying!!

 

What are the signs??

Information that was shared via John Tesh's Video for your Life website: Thank you for reaching out to parents!

Parents, you may have already talked to your kids about the dangers of alcohol
and Illegal drugs, but there's a danger you may not even know about. It's called the Choking Game, or Space Cowboy, Cloud 9, and Flat-line. lt's where kids deprive their brains of oxygen by briefly strangling themselves with a belt, rope, dog collar, or bungee cord, and get a temporary high when the blood rushes back Into their head. According to ABC News, kids are drawn to the Choking Game because It's cheap, doesn't Involve Illegal drugs, and seems less dangerous. However, It causes
permanent brain damage, and it kills - mostly boys between the ages of 11 and 16.
So, how can you protect your child? Talk to them! Make sure they understand that suffocating themselves to get high can cause permanent brain damage and death. Get them Into other activities -like soccer, hiking, or learning to cook. Studies show that kids who are involved in extracurricular activities are less likely to try to get high.

Also, keep an eye out for red flags like:
Bloodshot eyes, 
marks or bruising around the neck, 
and frequent ,severe headaches, 
pinpoint spots of blood under the skin of the face, especially the eyelids. 
Or in the clearlining of eyelids and eyes.
Also: Unusual demands for privacy, 
disorientation after spending time alone, 
and wearing
high-necked shirts, even In warm weather.
Other red flags include:
Ropes, scarves, t-shirts or belts tied to bedroom furniture or doorknobs, or found knotted on the floor or in unusual places, and the unexplained presence of dog leashes, choke collars, and bungee cords.

If you believe your child's doing something dangerous, seek medical and psychological help Immediately. Your Intervention could literally save their life. You can find a therapist at Therapists.PsychologyToday.com. Alert the parents of your child's friends. If one kid is doing it, there are probably others, and if an older teen is involved, younger kids in the same family may also be at risk.

Anytime your parental sense that something is wrong or different with your child is like a sign that you need to act and investigate what your child might be doing . Don't ever think "Oh I don't want them to get mad at me, who cares if they get mad, let them be mad, at least they will still be alive. Imagine if you found your child dead, hanging from a rope or belt on their bed, you thought something was just not right about them lately, but you did not want to interfere or "make them mad" now they are dead!!! did it really matter?? No, you can't bring them back now!
So be the parent and do something NOW! Talk to them NOW, they are never to young to talk about youth risk behaviors!!

A Wednesday Angel~~ Cody

Another Angel we have lost due to the choking "pass out" game! Happy New years in Heaven our Angels~~

Cody Willard~

Cody Willard page on Facebook- Here
Our Ed4Ed4all Facebook page- Here
 Encourage all the children in your life to watch these Angel posts, it might just save a life of your angel on earth.

Schoolboy's Death was an accident~

Schoolboy's death was an accident says new inquest

 from the UK
THE parents of a Tonbridge schoolboy who died after hanging himself with his school tie proved this week it was an accident after classmates revealed he had previously played a choking game.
There were tears of relief from the parents of 12-year-old Judd pupil William Lippell Stanesby when a second inquest found he had not committed suicide.

 

CHOKED: William Lippell Stanesby

Parents David Stanesby and Sabrina Lippell, from Tunbridge Wells, never believed their son had wanted to take his own life, insisting he had died accidentally while playing a game in which people choke themselves until they faint.
Mr Stanesby said the game, known to have claimed at least 11 other young lives nationwide, was "considered in some teenage circles to have cult-like status".
An open verdict was recorded at an inquest in September due to a lack of evidence.
The rare second inquest was called after critical information was provided by fellow Judd pupils who revealed William had talked about and even attempted the chilling prank.
Classmates told their teacher William had spoken about the "highly dangerous game" in which youngsters restricted air to their brain by constricting their necks with hands or a tie.
The coroner recorded a verdict of misadventure.


Credit to article here:  http://www.thisiskent.co.uk/Schoolboy-s-death-accident-says-new-inquest/story-14146614-detail/story.html

So a misadventure, or here in the states we would call it "they made a mistake by calling this a suicide! So many of our kids are dying and their deaths are being labeled a "suicide" by uneducated coroners. Time has come for education, if you are an ER Nurse, ER doctor, an Emergency worker in the field or that Coroner that does the autopsy, look for other clues as to whether this child was actually playing the "choking game" , know the differences. Don't just automatically think suicide, many of these incidents are accidental. Parents need closure and need to know.

Wednesday's Survivor Angel~~ Levi

Levi Draher came back from the dead. Other players were not so lucky.

Levi Draher was clinically dead.He is a survivor Angel

A great article that explains the beginnings of our Ed4Ed4all mission: Levi Draher, he is our Wednesday Angel of the week, a Survivor Angel, here for a reason to help others, read his story.

Source: http://www.houstonpress.com/2007-04-19/news/the-choking-game/.

 By Craig Malisow Thursday, Apr 19 2007
 The 15-year-old's body is positioned with the knees on a stack of mattresses, the torso slumped forward with the neck pressed into a black nylon cord he had tied between two bed bunk posts. He's in an empty bedroom in his company barracks at the Marine Military Academy in Harlingen. The proud red MMA crest is emblazoned on his gold T-shirt. His shorts are red; his feet are bare.

A few yards away, through the open door to the bathroom connecting two bedrooms, Levi's roommate sits studying at a desk. The company's recent wave of low grades has put them on restriction and cost them tonight's Halloween party. If Levi had made any noise before the nylon sling clamped his carotid, his roommate wouldn't have been able to hear through his headphones.
Levi's mother, Carrie, is down the hall chatting with the drill instructor's wife. They're talking about next week's annual Marine Corps Ball. As a "company mom," Carrie is involved in the planning.

Carrie walks down the hall to Levi's room and sees her son's roommate through the open door. She knocks loud enough to snap him from his music.
"Where's Draher?" she asks.
The roommate turns to the bathroom, thinking Levi's in the shower. Hearing nothing, they walk through the bathroom and see the body. They rush forward, pull Levi from the sling and onto the floor. The roommate flies out the door.
It's Halloween; this is a joke, Carrie thinks.
"Stop it!" she tells her son. "It's not funny!"
Something's making her strong, because she grabs her only son by his cold blue arm and pulls his 160-pound body nearly upright. But his torso tumbles into her, followed a split second later by his head, which snaps forward and crashes into a desk, and the two crumple to the floor.
Carrie puts her ear to his chest, his lips. No heartbeat, no breath. She can't find a pulse. She draws what feels like the first breath she's taken since she saw the body and screams. With the next breath, she catches herself before the scream. She hears a word. Share. Without thinking, Carrie puts her mouth over Levi's and shares her air. Now the drill instructor's wife and the company kids rush into the room. One drops down and compresses Levi's chest. Levi makes a gurgling sound. When the medics arrive, Levi's seizing, his back arching off the ground. The medics try to intubate, but his jaw is welded shut, so they use the bag. It takes five adults to load his writhing body onto the backboard.
In the ambulance, Carrie is in the front seat, looking in the back. The tube connecting the breathing bag to Levi's mouth is clouded with blood. The medic at Levi's side sees Carrie's expression. He bit his tongue, the medic says.
While Carrie's at the hospital, waiting to hear from the doctors working on her boy, investigators are talking to the kids in Levi's company. What the hell is this, the investigators want to know. To the kids, it's obvious. Levi made himself pass out to get high. Some of the kids would do it to each other after taps, when they should be asleep. By the dim light of the bathroom sink or the glowing flames from a puddle of hand sanitizer they'd light on fire, they'd take machine-gun breaths and wait for the crushing bear hug from behind. Thing is, after they'd pass out, they'd get back up. That's how the choking game is played.

Their names and ages are listed on the Web site:
Brandon J. Myers, 12, Missouri
Elizabeth Pryor, 13, Georgia
Isaiah Mitchell, 9, Indiana
Casey Richards, 10, Ohio
These kids, and dozens more on the list, have killed themselves playing the choking game. Their carotid arteries have been squeezed to strangulation by the thumbs of friends. They have tied utility cords and scarves and ropes around their necks and to the tops of doors. They have bent over and hyperventilated to the point of hypocapnia, lowering the carbon dioxide in their blood. They have done this for a high that can be counted in seconds.
These names are on the Web site for GASP, Games Adolescents Shouldn't Play. It's a campaign launched by Sharron Grant of Ontario, Canada, whose 12-year-old son, Jesse, strangled himself with a computer cord while playing the choking game in 2005.
However, research is murky when it comes to how many kids die each year from playing the choking game. Grant's group has tallied 337 children's deaths worldwide since 1934. Those numbers also show a marked increase in U.S. deaths in the past few years. According to GASP, 30 kids died playing the game in 2004, 68 in 2005 and 81 in 2006. The group has recorded 18 deaths so far for 2007.
But Mark Lepore, assistant professor of counseling psychology at Pittsburgh's Chatham College, believes 1,800 people in the United States have died playing the game in the past ten years. The majority were children and teens. However, Lepore acknowledges that "it's really hard to make an accurate determination" as to exactly how many deaths can be attributed to the choking game. (Deaths attributed to the choking game are not to be confused with those attributed to autoerotic asphyxiation, in which masturbation and asphyxia are combined in the quest for a more powerful orgasm, and which typically involves older practitioners.)
The list of names on GASP's site grows every month, and Texas is not immune.
On March 7, 2007, Huntsville high school sophomore Blake Sandel died playing the game. His mother told The Huntsville Item that, on the day Blake died, he and his brother had plans to go to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Blake slipped into his bedroom to change clothes, and he never came out. His father found the body about 45 minutes later.

Besides Blake, the GASP site lists 14 deaths and one injury among Texas children playing the game. The average age is 13.
The Harris County Medical Examiner's Office originally ruled one of the cases a suicide, despite the protests of the family. That is another reason, researchers say, that true numbers are hard to find.
In that case, a 14-year-old Spring girl named Haley Kinney took one of the decorative scarves she liked to keep on her door and tied one end around her neck. She looped the other end around a hinge at the top of her bedroom door, kneeled on her beanbag and fell forward. As she asphyxiated, her mother, baby brother and twin brother Kirby went about their business upstairs.
When one of Haley's friends called, Kirby walked the phone downstairs to Haley's room. Coming down the steps, Kirby says, he saw the door creak partway open to reveal a single pale arm. He said she had a call, but there was no response. Once outside Haley's room, Kirby couldn't get the door to budge. He was up against the weight of his sister's dead body. He leaned into the door and then saw it again, the pale arm. Kirby screamed for his mom.
The way Kirby recalls it, the medics pronounced his sister dead on the scene.
"Ma'am," he remembers them telling his mom, "we need you to step away from her because she's dead."
Do not scream, Carrie Draher is telling herself. Do not lose your self-control, or they will take you away from him.
It's a mercifully quick trip to the hospital. In the trauma bay, the doctors let Carrie stand beside Levi for a few minutes. She holds his cold blue foot. But now it's time for them to take Levi, and a doctor leads her away. She knows where she's going. That room with the little couch and nice lighting where no one wants to go. She's going to a room where the only thing she can do is wait. In a moment, Heidi, the drill instructor's wife, is with her. Carrie can't sit still. She picks up the phone and calls family. There's been an accident. With each call, she feels more and more like she's planning a funeral.
The hospital chaplain appears at the door. She knows what that means. In the military, the only reason the chaplain appears is to administer the last rites.
"Is he dead?" Carrie asks. And when the chaplain says she just wanted to see if there's anything Carrie needs, she lets it out. She closes the door and screams.
Heidi grabs her. She tells Carrie not to block them out. The door opens and the chaplain enters. Heidi and the chaplain ask Carrie to pray. They lock hands at first, but then Carrie drops down, tucking her chest to her knees, laying her head on the floor. She's never felt more powerless. She knows she can't ask God to save Levi; that's not her place. But she still talks to God. She asks for peace and the ability to be strong for the family members who will soon be trickling through the hospital doors. And when she returns to her feet, she is bolstered with the most incredible sense of calm.
Finally stable after three hours of seizures, Levi is moved to pediatric ICU. Carrie is allowed to touch him. He's warmer than before, but still slightly blue. He's intubated and on life support. The doctor takes Carrie aside for a debriefing. Levi's lungs are badly damaged. His brain is swelling. His liver is failing. She tells Carrie that they can push all the oxygen in the world into Levi, but if his lungs can't feed his cells, there's nothing they can do except maintain a pulse. Carrie knows she's being prepped for brain death. She knows what's coming next, and she says, when the time comes, she and her husband will sign a do-not-resuscitate order.
Now her calm is tested by a wave of doubt. Had she done the right thing? Did she give Levi just enough breath to bring him back as a vegetable? Did she revive a brain-dead child?
The waiting stretches through the night, into day two, and on the morning of day three, while Carrie is sitting beside him, Levi's eyes open. Carrie calls for the doctors while a frightened Levi shoots up and reaches for the tube that's jammed down his throat. But Carrie tries to reassure him.
"There was an accident," Carrie says. "You're in a hospital. And if you just breathe with this machine that's helping you breathe, they'll take it out."
Levi lies back down, and the doctors remove the tube.
In a raspy whisper, Levi utters his first word since Carrie found him on the floor.
"Water," he says.

Of all the different names the choking game goes by -- space monkey, blackout, California dreaming -- perhaps the most appropriate is “suffocation roulette.”
That was the title of a 2003 report by Israeli doctors in Annals of Emergency Medicine. Their curious patient was a 12-year-old boy who had gone off to play with friends, only to return disoriented, two days in a row. The boy had told his father that he blacked out on both occasions, but he had no memory of the time immediately preceding the blackouts. The boy said he wasn't sniffing, smoking, drinking or shooting anything. He “denied physical abuse by his peers.” Stymied, the doctors ran a battery of tests. The boy finally fessed up when one doctor asked him point-blank if he knew anything about the choking game.
“We believe that this dangerous game should be brought to the attention of parents, physicians, educators and social service personnel,” the physicians wrote. “Recognition of this game as a possible cause of [passing out], together with prompt educative intervention, might prevent adolescent morbidity and mortality.”
Yet despite the efforts of organizations like GASP, it appears that kids are learning more about the game's fun than its danger. Critics are quick to point to MySpace and YouTube, where adolescent auteurs have recorded themselves playing the game solo or with friends. The videos star laughing, normal-looking kids, all waking up at the end, perfectly healthy. (YouTube's “code of conduct” states that users should not post “videos showing dangerous or illegal acts.” When asked if the choking game was a dangerous or illegal act, a spokesman for YouTube simply referred the Houston Press to the code of conduct.)
The folks at GASP would rather kids see the video of a 15-year-old Twin Cities boy named Ryan Tucker. That clip, on GASP's site, shows a kid who played the choking game and woke up with severe brain damage. Ryan now looks like he was born with cerebral palsy and spends his days in therapy, learning how to walk and trying to launch a ball into a brightly colored set of little plastic bowling pins.
In an article about the choking game, Julie Rosenbluth of the American Council for Drug Education wrote, “A child playing this game could lose consciousness within a minute and die in as little as 2–4 minutes, as the weight of their body further constricts blood and oxygen to the brain.”
According to Rosenbluth, most kids playing the game are between 9 and 14. “Many preteens and teens participate in this lethal game out of curiosity — not rebellion, depression or anger,” she wrote. “The game may be played by kids who are not outwardly at-risk — students who may do well in school and are close with their families. To many kids, the choking game seems like a harmless way to get a rush.”
This description would have applied to Haley Kinney, the popular 14-year-old girl the Harris County Medical Examiner's Office originally believed committed suicide in a nearly full house, leaving behind neither a note nor a history of depression or suicidal behavior. Haley's father, Gary Kinney, says he was unhappy with the initial police investigation and Medical Examiner's ruling. Seven months after he requested another investigation and examination, Haley's manner of death was changed to “undetermined.” Gary Kinney maintains that the ruling should be “accidental.”
Her brother says he and Haley learned of the choking game in sixth grade. It was the last week of school, during a “free day” where the students got to play outside on Strack Intermediate's field and gorge themselves on ice cream. One of the kids was showing the others how good it felt to hyperventilate and pass out. Kirby liked it immediately. He never knew how much Haley liked it. He never thought she played it after that week.
In seventh grade, Kirby saw the movie Life as a House, and watched as one of the characters tried to play the choking game by hanging himself from his closet clothes rack. To Kirby, it looked perfectly inviting. He would wait until the house was empty and then get the belt.
“I always seemed to land on my stomach, or something...and wake up,” he says.
Then, when it happened, when the medics were kneeling by Haley's body, Kirby ran upstairs and punched the walls. He threw chairs. The anger carried over into the classroom, and after the 29th time he was written up, Kirby transferred to Klein Annex, an alternative school. He needed to shake the stress, but he knew he could never play the choking game anymore. He tried marijuana for the first time and was surprised to find a familiar feeling. But his parents found out and put an end to that. And even Kirby wondered what he was doing. Haley abhorred drugs and would've been disappointed. He was going to have to get through this straight. But it would be hard for Kirby, knowing that this person who was always right there was gone.

“You're so used to her riding the bus with you every morning, and you're so used to y'all...racing back home,” he says. “And then you just don't have that anymore. You're walking home by yourself.”
After Haley died, Kirby says, he talked to her friends and found out she had been playing the game with another girl on several occasions. Space monkey, they called it. He had already known, but this news made the original suicide ruling even harder to bear. Kirby equates suicide with surrender, saying it is something his sister would never do. It's when talking about the original manner of death that Kirby slips into the present tense.
“Haley's not a failure, period,” he says. “She won't take that for an answer.”

On day five, Levi says, “I played the game.”
Investigators had been talking to him, trying to figure out what happened. Hazing? Attempted suicide? Autoerotic asphyxiation? Levi had been reluctant to talk. The choking game was a private thing, and he had only done it twice before on his own. Carrie doesn't know what to think; she's never heard of this before. So she does the research online and finds GASP. But she's not prepared for what she sees on the list of names. Boy, 15, Harlingen, 10/28/06. It's Levi. And she scrolls down, and down, and down, and tries to process all the names below his. And she looks back at her son's entry and sees something that sets it apart. An asterisk. On this list of dead, Levi is an exception. She feels she has to do something.
When she calls GASP, she says, “My name is Carrie Draher. My son is Boy, 15, Harlingen, 10/28/06.”
While Levi gathers his motor skills in therapy, Carrie reads everything she can about the choking game. Parents need to know. Kids need to be warned. They aren't listening. But maybe they'd listen to someone who actually died playing it. At first, Carrie and her husband are reluctant to parade Levi in front of the cameras like a freak. Months pass, and she talks with Levi. He says he's healthy enough to share his story with whoever will listen. Carrie and Levi now go to schools to help deliver a choking game awareness program. In March, the campaign landed Levi on the front page of The New York Times. From there, mother and son have gone on CNN, the Today show and Hannity, among others.
Levi loved the trip to New York, where he stayed in the Millennium Hotel. His pleasure was evident on the Today show, where he wore his MMA jacket and a big, goofy grin. The grin has been the subject of some discussion between mother and son. Levi is a happy kid, and he can't contort his face into a look of solemnity on cue, so whenever he's on camera, one might think his brain could still use some oxygen.
When the grin is brought up during an interview, he laughs and says, “I look blazed...don't I? Don't I?”
Levi does not reflect on the experience. He has no memory of it, so during an interview he'd rather discuss things that exist in the present, like his MySpace page or his favorite scenes from Borat. And as far as he's concerned, the few minutes of clinical death aren't enough to keep him from his dream of joining the Marines.
The Drahers have a long military background, and Levi had wanted to take on that tradition ever since he was five. He had researched military boarding schools in Texas until he found MMA, and he knew in an instant that's what he wanted. The Marines were the toughest. “First to fight,” he liked to say. The tuition is steep — $25,000 a year — but Levi's parents wanted to give him this chance.
Carrie says that MMA's administration was understanding, compassionate and willing to welcome Levi back after the accident. However, she wanted Levi to go to school in San Antonio until she's sure he's fully healed. She says two private schools would not accept Levi once administrators found out about his accident. So now Levi goes to a public school just up the road from his home. He hates it. He misses the military atmosphere.
He hasn't spoken with a recruiter yet, but is confident the Marines will gladly accept him because, he says, “I'm cool.” (The Press checked with the Marines and, according to a gunnery sergeant who runs a Marine recruiting substation in Webster, an accident like the one Levi suffered would not automatically disqualify him. Policy dictates that doctors would have to review his medical files to determine if there was any permanent damage.)
This afternoon, a gray-haired chauffeur in a black suit parks a black Lincoln Town Car outside the Drahers' apartment and knocks on the door. He is taking Carrie and Levi to a television studio downtown, where Geraldo Rivera will interview them via satellite. In the front seat, Levi fidgets. He's been on medication for ADHD since the third grade and, Carrie says, the fidgeting got worse after the accident. Fascinated by the electric seat adjuster, Levi floats forward and back, up and down.

In the studio, mother and son sit in tall chairs and stare into a television camera about five yards away. Geraldo's voice is channeled through their earpieces.
“Do you ever think about the fact that you were already on the other side there, and but for the intervention of your mom and others, you wouldn't have come back?” Geraldo asks.
“I guess I'm pretty special to be alive,” Levi says through The Grin.
Not one to suffer fools, Geraldo says, “Are you being sincere now, or are you being a wiseguy?”
It's as if Levi had the easy part in this whole thing. He had the luxury of passing out. As he waited to live or die, he didn't have to suffer, like Carrie. In the Lincoln on the way home, Carrie says that, for months after the accident, she heard wailing ambulances that weren't there. She lived in a haunted house, where she would walk into a room and see her son's corpse sprawled on the floor. And as she talks of this hell she had to live through, Levi is telling the chauffeur that you can make an explosive by mixing Mentos and Diet Coke.
Gradually, the phantom sirens faded, and Carrie wouldn't see her son's body everywhere. But the one thing that lingers is the panic that takes over outside a door. The hallucinations out in the open were one thing, but she never knows what's behind the door.
Levi's recovery was remarkable. He had been discharged on day six, in time for the Marine Corps Ball. Carrie was still in awe.
“He led me out on the floor for the traditional mother-son dance,” she recalls. “I had no idea what music was playing...I couldn't take my eyes off his face.”
She has that memory of his face, that same old Levi with the goofy grin who was returned to her for reasons she'll never understand. And she has the memory of a cold blue face with blind eyes. It's something that Levi doesn't understand now, and may not for a while, but whenever Carrie Draher stands outside her son's door, she never knows which face she's going to see.

Wednesday's Angel ~ Kevin Tork~

Every week these posts get harder and harder to do without tears, thinking of each of these children that have suffered or died from a preventable risk taking behavior just breaks my heart. I am sure not as much as these parents have had to endure though, the loss of their child. That is why we her at Ed4Ed4All continue our battle to prevent useless injury and death from deadly youth risk behaviors.
This week's Wednesday Angel is Kevin Tork the son of our dear Ken Tork, and has a special place in all of our hearts just like last week's Angel : Braden did, he was the grandson of Lyndi Trost. So many Angels.............why do they have to die?

 

http://www.forkevinssake.com/Content.asp?KEY=HOME

This is quoted from Ken's blog about Kevin : "For Kevin's Sake" 

Our family experienced a horrible tragedy. We lost our 15-year old son Kevin on a Monday night to a craze that has invaded our children’s lives, called “the choking game”. Before I tell you about how he died I would like to tell you a little about how he lived.


Kevin was the perfect son in every way. He was happy and fun loving and caring, He would be the first to jump in without being asked and help where needed. He loved his family fiercely. He loved to laugh and make others laugh. He was in several plays in school. He loved music, basketball, writing poetry and stories. He loved making swords and models and he was the most honest young man there has ever been. He truly was perfect in every way. We told each other several times a day that we loved each other and we hugged multiple times a day.

Everyone I have talked to has told me how special he was, and you just felt it when you were in his presence. I am just now finding out how truly amazing this kid was. His classmates got to see a side of him I never did because at home he was our baby boy. Home was where he came to be a kid. When he walked out that door every morning he turned into this strong young man that I can now only know through his friends' stories or his journals. His love for other people just reached out to you with out you even knowing it. One of his classmates told us that 5 minutes after she met him she felt she knew him her whole life. 

The finality of burying your son:
A headstone was finally added to Kevin's burial plot after 2000 kids were informed by Ken about the Choking Game.

This is KING-5/Seattle's coverage of that April 30, 2011 event:

 

A message from Ken (Kevin's dad)

Please don’t go back to your lives and forget Kevin Tork. He would have sacrificed himself for any one of your children and never thought twice about it. Cherish every second you have with your child. Our world changed on Monday March 30th, 2009 at 6:37pm. Will yours' change? Will one of you be next? Let's work together and stop this deadly, fatal activity before it takes your child. 
Let me leave you with this: I had a customer email me about a conversation that took place in the back of her best friend's car. Her friends daughter was sitting with a friend and the friend said ”Let me show you this neat game I learned today. I put my hands around your neck and squeeze until you get dizzy. Its really fun and it feels good.” Both girls are 7 yrs old. So if you think it cant happen to your child ... think again. 

Educate yourself, Educate your kids, Save a life! Angels need to stay a while here on earth until it is really time (God's time) for them to go.

Wednesday blessings ~~ Our angels

~~~Joshua~~~

10/11/97 - 6/13/11  

Another Angel in Heaven because of the Choking or Fainting game, another kid dead, yes, he is really gone! This does not have to happen, Joshua was only 13 yrs old, his entire life was in front of him. News Article about Josh's death with a video

Each Wednesday instead of a senseless picture posting we will feature one of our Angels, kids that we have lost due to youth risk behaviors, poor choices and lack of knowledge. Hopefully this will be an important reminder to parents, teachers and kids that "games" that involve "risk taking behaviors" such as the "Choking Game" , Pharm or pill parties, Self Destructive or mutilation behaviors, Huffing and inhalant abuse, synthetic drugs such as "bath salts" or K2 are only a road that leads down a "dead end" street. Death is not selective, it can sneak up on you the first time you make a poor choice or the 100th time you do, so why play Russian roulette with your life?
Educate yourself, your kids, your students and save a life. Might even be your child's life.

More information and downloadable free educational materials available on our website here http://ed4ed4all.com 

A Challenge for YOU! We Can Do this!!

 National Choking Game Awareness Conference for Advocates to convene!! We need to reach far and wide! It's FREE , just takes a second of your time. Placing 2 votes, every day will be my routine for the month - will you take on the same challenge? 2 Votes every day: http://www.refresheverything.com/chokinggame AND Text* 109321 to Pepsi (73774) We can do this! Vote, Share, repeat for 30 days :)

Please Please vote and help us spread the word, working together advocates can help end the deaths of kids by the "Choking Game" and other risky behaviors.

Leslie Block RN - Ed4Ed4all- Injury Prevention Specialist

Our New Website!!

 

 http://www.ed4ed4all.com

 

Our fabulous Lyndi Trost (Network Director of Ed4Ed) has created the new ed4ed4all.com website and it is awesome, page after page of great information, events, videos, alerts and news for parents, free downloadable materials, how to get involved and links to resources.

This organization is dedicated to those young people who have been needlessly injured or killed  as a result of participating in behaviors without adequate information concerning the risks they are taking.  We as a group are aware of about 1,000 such young people and the number is increasing steadily.  To prevent these senseless tragedies,

Education is the essential element:

• Understanding Choices

• Weighing Chances

• Evaluating potential outcomes - Benefits vs, Risk

in guiding our youth to healthy choices ushering in bright futures.

Scientific research and professionals concur:  Youth will take risks.  Scientific research based on youth studies conclude:  Knowledge is the single factor that determines the risks they will choose to take.  Risk experimentation ends in needless tragedy and experience is not the best teacher.

 

Many of our members have been personally affected by these behaviors which include but are not limited to "The Choking Game'. Emo, Dusting and Pharm Parties.

Mission Statement

The Ed4Ed mission is to provide an aid to be shared free of cost with all who care for youth.  The single goal is elimination of youth dying and suffering grave injury due to a simple lack of knowledge. These senseless tragedies can be prevented.  This will be accomplished through awareness of and education about emerging youth risk behavior trends. 

 

To be effective the program must be efficient, flexible, adaptable, accessible, easy to use and offered freely.   

So what are you waiting for? come on over and check out our new website and tell us what you think.

Follow us on Twitter @Ed4Ed4all and @ernursescare