DEADLY GAME
Boy, 12, dies after TikTok ‘Blackout Challenge’ that encourages people to choke themselves left him on life support
THE BOY who was left brain dead after taking part in a viral TikTok phenomenon called the “Blackout Challenge” last month has passed away.
Joshua Haileyesus, a 12-year-old from Colorado, had been found by his twin brother passed out on his bathroom floor on March 22. Since then he had been kept alive with the aid of a life support machine.
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“After fighting the good fight on for 19 days, Joshua has gone off to be with the Lord,” members of Haileyesus’s kin posted on , which had raised nearly $182,000 on his behalf.
“Your prayers and your love have comforted us and we are grateful for your support.”
The family of the aspiring thespian and musician suspected he choked himself with a shoelace to pull off the dangerous dare.
The popularity of the “Blackout Challenge” (also known as “Passout Challenge”, “The Game of Choking," or “Speed Dreaming”) was trending on social media apps such as TikTok, where participants would utilize household items to choke themselves until they pass out.
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Only days before he had been found in an unconscious state, Joshua had bragged to his twin brother that he could hold his breath for a minute.
His devastated father, Haileyesus Zeryihun, had held out hope that Joshua was a “fighter” and might pull through; that he had been “praying for him every day.”
Shortly after his son was hospitalized, he had learned that there was a likelihood he “was not going to survive.”
But despite all the prayers and hopes for a recovery, Zerihun acknowledged that the doctors’ outlook was grim and that they needed to prepare to say goodbye.
“I was begging them on the floor, pleading to see if they can give me some time, not to give up on him. If I just give up on him, I feel like I’m just walking away from my son,” he said at the time
Joshua was an avid student of online videos and social media having broadened his cooking skills, playing guitar and acting.
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The perils of unfiltered social media were clearly also ever-present and other parents need to be involved more.
“This is something that kids need to be given to be taught - to be counseled. Because this is a serious, a serious thing,” his father told last month shortly after they suffered the tragedy.
“It’s not a joke at all," he added. "And you can treat it as if somebody is holding a gun. This is how dangerous this is."
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