A 12-year-old boy nearly lost his life after participating in a dangerous social media trend. Cesar Watson-King inhaled a can of deodorant as part of a challenge known as “chroming,” and collapsed at his home in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, on August 21, reported the Metro.

His mother, Nichola King, who had just finished breastfeeding her youngest child upstairs, was alarmed by a loud thud and rushed downstairs to investigate. The 36-year-old was horrified to find her son having a seizure on the kitchen floor before he went into cardiac arrest.

Nichola’s eldest son, Kaiden, immediately called 999 while Nichola performed CPR on Cesar as they awaited the ambulance. Cesar was rushed to the hospital, where he was placed in a medically induced coma for two days after experiencing further seizures and cardiac arrests.

Fortunately, Cesar recovered and is now back home, but Nichola, a mother of four, has shared photos of her son receiving CPR and in intensive care to warn others about the dangers of chroming. The trend involves inhaling toxic chemicals from substances like paint, solvents, aerosol cans, cleaning products, or petrol to achieve a brief ‘high.’

This practice can cause slurred speech, dizziness, hallucinations, nausea, and disorientation, but it can also lead to heart attacks or suffocation.

Recalling the moment she heard her son collapse, Nichola said, “I had just finished breastfeeding my baby and was drifting off to sleep when I heard a really loud bang. I thought one of the kids had done something. I heard Cesar creeping downstairs and assumed he was getting something to eat. The bang sounded like someone had fallen over. I heard a moaning sound from downstairs and thought Cesar had broken a bone or something. When I went downstairs, I saw him lying on the floor, and his eyes were rolling back into his head. It was terrifying. He was having a seizure.”

Nichola ran upstairs to grab her phone, but her hands were shaking so much she couldn’t unlock it, so she asked her eldest to call an ambulance. She then began performing CPR on Cesar to try to restore his breathing.

“I thought he’d fallen and hit his head. I had no idea what had happened. He turned blue and stopped breathing. I thought he’d died. I was in complete shock. I watched my son die and saw the light go out of his eyes.”

After Cesar was taken to Doncaster Royal Infirmary, police informed Nichola that they had found a can of Aldi Lacura deodorant and other chroming paraphernalia on the kitchen floor, leading them to believe Cesar had inhaled the deodorant before losing consciousness.

Nichola said, “I hadn’t heard of chroming before this. An older boy had shown him how to do it. When police told me what he’d inhaled, I thought he was going to die. I knew the warnings on the back of the cans that say ‘solvent abuse kills instantly.'”

Cesar was later transferred to Sheffield Children’s Hospital, where he was kept in a medically induced coma for 48 hours. When he came out of the coma, he began showing signs of progress, soon breathing on his own and able to talk and walk.

After eight days in the hospital, Cesar was discharged and allowed to return home.

Nichola said, “I was over the moon. He was almost back to normal when he was discharged-eating, drinking, having a laugh. He just feels tired. We don’t know about long-term damage, but his short-term memory is very bad. He couldn’t remember what had happened. If I hadn’t heard something that night, I would have found a dead body the next morning. I’ve spoken to Cesar and asked him never to do anything like this again. I’ve thrown out everything in the house that sprays.”

Nichola also wants to warn other children who might be tempted to try chroming: “It’s not worth it. It might feel good, but it definitely doesn’t when you’re in the hospital struggling to breathe and causing pain to your parents.”

She added, “I also want to stress the importance of parents being trained in first aid. I believe anyone with kids should attend a course, as it could be the difference between life and death.”

An 11-year-old UK boy, Tommie-Lee Gracie Billington, died attempting the “chroming” challenge at a friend’s house. 

The boy’s grandmother said, “He died instantly after a sleepover at a friend’s house. The boys had tried the TikTok craze of ‘chroming.’ Tommie-Lee went into cardiac arrest immediately and died right there and then. The hospital did everything to try and bring him back, but nothing worked. He was gone.” 

What is ‘Chroming’ – the latest trend on TikTok?

Chroming, a risky recreational activity, involves inhaling hazardous household chemicals and substances such as nail polish remover, hairspray, aerosol deodorant, lighter fluid, gasoline, paint thinners, spray paint, and permanent markers, as outlined by the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne. 

This form of drug use creates a brief euphoric effect, but according to the American Addiction Centers, it is dangerous and can lead to adverse effects like dizziness, vomiting, cardiac failure, and brain damage. 

When inhaled, these chemicals are absorbed into the bloodstream through the lungs and can affect various organs. The cognitive abnormalities caused by inhalants range from mild impairment to severe dementia. Regular inhalant use is associated with high rates of depression, anxiety, and other substance abuse issues, according to the Alcohol and Drug Foundation based in Australia. While inhalants may not directly cause these disorders, their use can trigger or exacerbate them. Additionally, individuals regularly using inhalants are more likely to experience stressful events, according to the Alcohol and Drug Foundation. 

Long-term exposure to these toxic inhalants, as indicated by a 2018 study, can result in memory loss, lower IQ, an inability to concentrate, and impaired judgement. Another variation of chroming involves inhaling “whippets” (also known as “laughing gas” or “hippy crack”), referring to cartridges filled with nitrous oxide. Although these cartridges are legally used to inflate balloons, inhaling them for recreational purposes is illegal. 

According to a 2017 National Survey on Drug Use and Health report, approximately 684,000 adolescents aged 12 to 17 engaged in huffing or inhaling toxic chemicals in 2015. The report also highlighted a total of 1.8 million individuals aged 12 and older participating in this practice that same year, with inhalant use typically decreasing with age. Around one in five kids have used inhalants by the eighth grade, reports the DEA.