A heartbroken family has issued a warning after their 13-year-old daughter died after taking part in a dangerous trend called ‘chroming’.
The trend involves inhaling potentially harmful chemicals from a deodorant can, and it can be seriously dangerous.
That’s the message that the family of 13-year-old Australian student Esra Haynes want to get across.
The Year 8 student from Lilydale High School in Melbourne went into cardiac arrest and suffered irreparable brain damage after ‘chroming’ at a friend’s sleepover earlier this year on March 31.
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Speaking to A Current Affair, Esra’s parents said that they had no idea what was going to happen.
Her mum Andrea said: “It was just the regular routine of going to hang out with her mates,”
Paul, Esra’s father, added: “We always knew where she was and we knew who she was with.
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“It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.
“To get this phone call at that time of night, [it] was one of the calls no parent ever wants to have to receive and we unfortunately got that call: ‘Come and get your daughter.’
“We’ve got the pictures in our mind which will never be erased, you know, of what we were confronted with.”
When they arrived, paramedics were trying to save Esra’s life, telling Andrea that she’d been taking part in the dangerous trend, in which people look for a quick high by inhaling chemicals from aerosol deodorant cans.
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It’s particularly popular among teenagers, who are likely unaware of the real and immediate danger it presents.
In Esra’s case, she was rushed off to hospital unresponsive, where she was placed on life support.
Eight days later, with her brain ‘damaged beyond repair’, her parents took the heartbreaking decision to turn off the machines.
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Paul continued: “They’re asking us to bring a family, friends to say goodbye to our 13-year-old daughter.
“It was a very, very difficult thing to do to such a young soul.”
It was devastating for the family, including Esra’s older siblings Imogen, Seth, and Charlie, who ‘cuddled her until the end’.
This latest incident is sadly not the first to occur from something like this.
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In 2019, a 16-year-old boy died in New South Wales from aerosol inhalation.
Then, in 2021 a Queensland girl suffered brain damage from chroming.
Some supermarkets have even been forced to lock up deodorant cans because of increased theft and concerns about what they are being used for.
Schools and regional education departments are also trying to teach kids about the dangers of chroming, as well as medical experts.
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It’s not enough for Paul and Andrea though – they want deodorant formula to be changed to be safer, as well as CPR training to be given in all schools.
“For me it’s a pistol sitting on the shelf,” Paul said.
“We need the manufacturers to step up and really change the formulation or the propellants.”
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He also argued that social media must be more closely monitored, as be believes that is where Esra found out about the trend.
More importantly than that, they want to share the consequences of chroming with families and kids.
Paul said: “Kids don’t look beyond the next day, they really don’t. And especially not knowing how it can affect them.
“Esra would never have done this if she would have known the consequences.”
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His wife added: “But the ripple effect is that this is absolutely devastating.
“We’ve got no child to bring home or anything.”
Paul concluded: “We need to talk about it.
“Her name meant helper so that’s what we’re here to do.”
Tom Wood