Mom Begs Parents to Listen After Son Accidentally Takes His Own Life in Social Media Challenge

Indiana mother Joanna Bogard has issued an urgent warning to parents on Facebook after her son Mason’s attempt at the “choking challenge” went terribly awry.

The “choking challenge,” also known as the “fainting challenge,” is a trend circulating social media that encourages kids to choke themselves to the point of almost passing out in hopes of achieving a high.

The dangerous challenge has gone viral several times over the past two decades, and it’s back with a vengeance in 2019.

At least 82 children in the U.S. died between 1995 and 2007, according to a study cited by Time. Most of them were boys between the ages of 11 and 16. Citing the same study, the New York Post added that the exact number of deaths to date has been extremely difficult for experts to track as they are often misidentified as suicides.

In its beginnings, the “choking challenge” was spread via word of mouth, but today’s technological advances have made social media its new breeding ground.

Mason, like so many who have gone before him, will tragically lose his life to the challenge that he perceived as all fun and games. Though doctors have done all they can to revive the teen, their efforts have failed, and he is now being prepared for organ donation.

Though devastated over the loss of her son, Mason’s mother Joanna hopes that in warning others, she can save someone else’s child from suffering the same fate.