These were video stills of pupils from a local Belfast school filming themselves hyperventilating at Custom House Square, Belfast city centre. Received over 90 likes on Facebook. The School principle has been informed.
It’s not a new craze, but now with social media this could be the new dangerous icebucketchallenge viral video. Just warns your kids!
Parents of Sam Thomas aged 12, from Cornwall warn against ‘fainting game’ craze after son ends up in coma.
The prank involves hyperventilating and then breathing out as hard as possible. It’s then recorded on video and uploaded to Facebook.
However, Sam, of Newquay, Cornwall, blacked out while trying the stunt. He managed to get back to his feet and staggered to school but soon experienced pins and needles and started to feel faint.
He then passed out, hit his head on a tree on the way down which knocked himself unconscious.
Sam’s parents Celia and Robert Thomas were called to the school, where they found their son’s body “shutting down”.
Sam was in the coma for 36 hours and has since recovered – but his family warned against children trying the prank.
“We had never heard of this thumb-blowing craze before, that’s also what was really worrying. We were in disbelief that this could be so dangerous,” Mrs Thomas said.
“It’s caused death before and many more children have suffered brain damage. Children at that age don’t understand things like this, there’s no fear or danger.
“It’s really important children understand the risks and we’d encourage parents to talk to their children about this.”
Sam is slowly recovering but has had to cut down on sports and swimming and find himself getting tired quickly.
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