Niamh Shackleton
Grieving parents of Renna O’Rourke have issued a warning to others after their daughter died from doing an online trend.
Renna was pronounced brain dead on June 1 after several days in the ICU. She was just 19-years-old.
Renna died of sudden sniffing death syndrome as a result of doing an online trend called 'dusting', where someone gets high from inhaling aerosol products like computer dusting spray. It's also known as chroming or huffing.
In the wake of her untimely death, Renna's parents, Dana and Aaron O'Rourke, have made it their mission to raise awareness about the apparent trend in the hopes of stopping more young lives being lost to it.
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Speaking about their late daughter, Dana told AZ Family: "She was vivacious and caring and loyal."
Her father added: "She always said, ‘I’m gonna be famous, Dad. Just you watch. I’m gonna be famous’ and unfortunately this is not under the most optimal of circumstances."
Dana continued to warn other parents: "There’s no ID required. It’s odorless. It’s everything kids look for. They can afford it, they can get it, and it doesn’t show in mom and dad’s drug test."
Going on to share what Renna's final days looked like, the heartbroken mom said: "She spent the next seven days in the ICU. She never regained consciousness."
"We don’t have children to bury them," Dana added.
Dr. Randy Weisman, who leads the Intensive Care Unit at HonorHealth Scottsdale Osborn Medical Center, has also weighed in on the concerning online trend.
"When they inhale these chemicals in the gas it will actually replace the oxygen within their lungs and within the rest of their body," he explained.
It can take just one huff for someone to suffer life-changing consequences to their body, including failure of the liver, heart failure, disease of the lungs.
Dr Weisman continued to warn: "She’s not the only one that this has happened to. Several other teenagers have succumb to this same disorder."
The O'Rourke family have set up a GoFundMe page for Renna following her death where, at the time of writing, over $10,000 has been raised.
Created by Aaron, the bio of the page describes he late daughter as 'the light in every room she walked into'.
"The pain that her family and friends feel is simply immeasurable," he added.
The money raised on the page will go towards 'the extensive medical bills, burial costs, therapy costs, and to spread awareness about the dangers of Huffing/Dusting', Aaron continued to write.