Nyla Anderson’s family discovered her in her room after doing a viral dare that has claimed a number of lives in the U.S. this year.
The mother of a 10-year-old Pennsylvania girl is warning parents to check their kids’ phones after she says her daughter died while attempting a viral dare she saw on TikTok.
Tawainna Anderson says her daughter Nyla died earlier this month after doing the “Blackout Challenge”—a dare that encourages participants to hold their breath or choke themselves.
The family was home at the time, but Nyla was in her bedroom alone.
“There was no one there to save her,” social worker Elizabeth Wood told WPVI-TV.
When her family discovered Nyla’s unconscious body in her bedroom, they rushed her to the hospital, but she died on Dec. 12.
“It’s a pain that won’t go away,” Anderson told local station WPVI-TV. “Make sure you’re checking your kids’ phones and paying attention because you never know what you might find in their phones or the things they are trying that you think 10-year-olds wouldn’t try. They’re trying because they’re kids and they don’t know no better.”
VICE News reached out to TikTok for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
As VICE News previously reported, the Blackout Challenge has claimed the lives of several kids in the U.S. this year. In June, a 9-year-old Memphis boy was found unresponsive in his closet with a belt around his neck, and a 12-year-old boy in Aurora, Colorado, died after spending weeks on life support in the spring.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 82 kids died of the “Choking Game” between 1995 and 2007, but social media has made it far easier for the trend to spread.
Dr. Mindy Dickerman, assistant professor of pediatrics at Drexel University College of Medicine, told ABC7 the challenge can cause significant organ damage, including brain damage, “which really is one of your most vulnerable organs to lack of oxygen and even death.”
