A 5-year-old boy died after his sweet-natured game went horribly wrong as he tried to climb inside a dinosaur-shaped helium balloon.
Karlton Noah Donaghey's mom found him collapsed on the floor with the balloon pulled down over his head and neck. She believes he had been trying to wear the balloon—which was as large as he was—as a costume so that he could dress up as a dinosaur and surprise his family to make them laugh.
Mom Lisa Donaghey, 43, made the horrifying discovery at the family's home in Dunston, in the town of Gateshead in the northeast of England, on June 23, local news website Chronicle Live reported. The little boy had been obsessed with dinosaurs and had been bought the large green balloon as a treat when she and husband Karl Donaghey, 35, took their son to a funfair a week earlier.
Lisa Donaghey had been outside in the backyard enjoying the warm weather with her other children—sons Joe, 20, and Will, 15, as well as daughter Kaitlin, 25, who was visiting with her 8-month-old twin girls.
Donaghey's youngest son had been playing with them, but said he was going inside to use the toilet. His mother went to check on him when he didn't return shortly afterward, and she told the Chronicle Live: "When I came in, he was on the floor with the balloon over his head and his neck. It was a dinosaur balloon which was the same size as him. I think he's put himself in the balloon to be a dinosaur to go outside and surprise his nieces.
"I pulled the balloon off him and I screamed. I think I carried him to the patio door. As a mother, I knew he was gone; he was unresponsive. He had his eyes wide open and he was pale. I just collapsed outside on the grass."
Her oldest child, Kaitlin, rushed inside and began CPR on her little brother as the family called for an ambulance, with neighbor Amiee Morrison taking over when she was unable to continue. Donaghey said: "I must have screamed and screamed and screamed. I couldn't bear to come back in. My little boy was getting worked on. I was numb with fear and terror."
The little boy was airlifted to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle and spent six days in intensive care, but he did not regain consciousness and begun suffering from severe seizures. His family had to make the heartbreaking decision to turn off his life support machines on June 29 when doctors said there was no longer any hope he could be saved.
Lisa Donaghey said: "He was trying to fight on but I knew he was fighting with a little ounce of energy, it was taking it all out of him. I told him, 'Stop being brave; go to sleep... Don't worry about Mammy.' I promised my little boy that it wouldn't break me.
"They took the sedation off him and he deteriorated rapidly. I had the beautiful opportunity to lie in bed with him, to hum and sing in his ear and cuddle him on my chest until his little heart stopped. My little boy just went to sleep and he looked so beautiful... He was my little best friend and my little sidekick, we did everything together from morning until night."
A coroner is due to determine her son's exact cause of death after an autopsy, but the family believe the 5-year-old died as result of inhaling helium.
A "Hazardous Substance Fact Sheet" produced by the New Jersey Department of Health in 2016 warned of the dangers of the gas, stating: "Helium is a colorless, odorless gas. It is used in weather balloons, in welding gases, and as a carrier gas in some industrial operations... Exposure to high levels of helium can cause headache, dizziness, and lightheadedness. Very high levels can cause passing out and even death due to suffocation from lack of oxygen."
Donaghey said she wanted to warn other parents of the risks: "It's very dangerous... I want parents, grandparents, childminders, adults, students, anyone that has come into contact with helium to be cautious about the ways they use it and dispose of it. A precious 5-year-old has been taken too soon and I would never ever put this pain on anybody."
A fundraising drive has been set up by a family friend to raise money for the little boy's funeral and to pay for a memorial bench in his honor. The GoFundMe site's goal of £3,000 ($3,587) was surpassed, with the current amount of donations standing at more than £7,700 ($9,208).
Newsweek has reached out to the family for further comment.
The incident comes a year after an 8-year-old boy was found dead in his bedroom after inhaling helium from a large balloon shaped like the number 8 that he'd been given for his birthday the week before. Luke Ramone Harper was found with the balloon over his face at his home in Dublin, Ireland, in April 2021.
And there have been other tragedies too. A 14-year-old Oregon girl, Ashley Long, died back in 2012 after inhaling helium from a tank at a party. Her father said she'd been pressured into it by other partygoers who were trying to make their voices sound higher-pitched.
In May 2019, it was reported the world was experiencing a major helium shortage, causing difficulties for science and businesses. Helium is used in various industries including space exploration, health care and manufacturing.
The year before, astronomers had discovered helium in the atmosphere of a planet outside our solar system, according to a new study published in the journal Nature. While in March this year, researchers said the Earth's core appears to be leaking primordial helium from the Big Bang, with around 4.4 pounds escaping from the planet's interior every year.
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