Rosario Monachino
Heartbroken parents have issued an urgent warning after their teenage daughter tragically died after taking part in a chroming trend.
Esra Haynes, 13, was at a sleepover in northeast Melbourne, Australia, over the Easter weekend.
Her parents – Andrea and Paul Haynes – received a phone call to ‘urgently’ pick up their daughter after she entered a cardiac arrest in her sleep.
When they arrived at the house, paramedics were already on the scene trying to resuscitate her.
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Haynes was placed on life support shortly after arriving at the hospital.
Although her parents were optimistic their daughter would recover, a scan revealed the teen had sustained irreparable brain damage.
The couple were forced to make the painful decision to turn off Haynes’ life support and were told to bring in friends and family to say their final goodbyes to the teen on her deathbed.
She sadly passed away three days later.
Haynes’ sister, Imogen, tells 7News that her sibling was ‘kind’ and ‘generous’, adding that she ‘helped everyone before herself’.
Haynes’ cause of death has been confirmed to be from chroming – a trend that involves inhaling toxic chemicals.
This can include paint, solvent, aerosol cans, glue, cleaning products, or petrol.
Chroming has an effect on the central nervous system and slows down brain activity, which leads to a short-term ‘high’.
However, it is extremely dangerous and has side effects such as slurred speech, dizziness, hallucinations, nausea, vomiting and disorientation.
In some cases, it can have more severe implications such as leading to a heart attack or suffocation – along with possibly inflicting permanent damage to the brain, liver and kidneys.
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Haynes’ family now want to raise more awareness of the damage chroming can cause in order to prevent another death from happening – with Paul telling the Herald Sun that it is their ‘crusade’.
He explains: “No matter how much you lead a horse to water, anyone can drag them away. It’s not something she would have done on her own.”
Imogen also tells the outlet: “We definitely have a mission to raise awareness for kids and anyone that does it.
“We don’t want that to happen to anyone else. We don’t want another family to go through this, it’s absolutely horrible.”
Her brother, Seth, adds: “I just want to put awareness out there that it can happen very quickly, and we don’t want to lose any more amazing people.”
The American Addiction Center explains that chroming is more popular among younger people without access to other drugs.
The National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that in the US, around half a million people reported using inhalants – with the majority of them between the ages of 12 and 17.
UK-based organisation Frank, which provides honest information about drugs, says that there are more than 50 deaths a year involving glues, gases, solvents and aerosols.
Possession of ‘laughing gas’ is now illegal in the UK – with repeat serious users facing up to two years in prison and dealers up to 14 years.
Consequences can include an unlimited fine, a visible community punishment, a caution (which would appear on their criminal record) and for repeat serious offenders, a prison sentence.
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