A grieving mother has spoken out after her young son died of helium poisoning as a result of an innocent surprise he planned for his family.
Karlton Noah Donaghey was a happy and “well-behaved” 5-year-old boy from Gateshead, England, who succumbed to helium poisoning.
As 43-year-old Lisa Donaghey, Noah’s mother, revealed, she was in the garden with her other children when her youngest son went into the house and tried to climb inside a large dinosaur balloon to surprise his family.
While wearing the balloon over his head and neck as a costume, however, Karlton inhaled lethal amounts of helium.
The child was then found unresponsive on the floor by his mother who immediately called for an ambulance after realizing what happened.
“When I came in he was on the floor with the balloon over his head and his neck. It was a dinosaur balloon which was the same size as him,” Donaghey explained.
“I think he’s put himself in the balloon to be a dinosaur to go outside and surprise his nieces. I pulled the balloon off him and I screamed.
“I think I carried him to the patio door. As a mother, I knew he was gone, he was unresponsive. He had his eyes wide open and he was pale.”
After the incident, Karlton was given CPR on the scene before being rushed to the hospital. After six days in the ICU and after he began suffering from seizures, Karlton’s ventilator was turned off and he was pronounced dead.
“I read to him and I sang to him. I washed his face, his fingers and his hair. I put Vaseline on his lips and I made sure he was clean,” the grieving mom recalled.
“His heart was beating itself and his stats seemed to be showing improvement but he was suffering massive seizures. The last seizures affected him pretty badly. He wouldn’t be able to function, everything was damaged.”
She added: “They took the sedation off him and he deteriorated rapidly. I had the beautiful opportunity to lie in bed with him, to hum and sing in his ear and cuddle him on my chest until his little heart stopped. My little boy just went to sleep and he looked so beautiful.
“I knew as a mother I wasn’t going to bring him home. I’m just grateful to have had the six days with him.”
His mother has since paid a tribute to her son and revealed the boy got the helium balloon at a funfair because of his love for dinosaurs.
“He had been really well behaved and he hadn’t asked for anything, he was never ungrateful. He was really well mannered so he got a treat,” Lisa added.
“He loved dinosaurs – ‘dinosaur roar’ was probably one of his first words. He had lots of dinosaur and dragon books and lots of dinosaur toys.”
The mom also spoke out to warn other parents about the dangers of helium balloons saying they can kill a child or even an adult in seconds.
“I want parents, grandparents, childminders, adults, students, anyone that has come into contact with helium to be cautious about the ways they use it and dispose of it,” she said.
“A precious five-year-old has been taken too soon and I would never ever put this pain on anybody.”
Our thoughts are with Karlton’s family during this painful time.
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