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Topics: Health, US News, Social Media
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Madison Burgess
A teenager has tragically died after taking part in a dangerous challenge on social media - and her parents are now warning others about the terrifying craze.
Renna O'Rourke, 19, from Arizona, lost her life after participating in a ‘dusting’ trend that has popped up online.
‘Dusting’, also known as ‘chroming’ or ‘huffing’, involves inhaling household cleaning products to get high and then posting a video of it online.
In Renna’s case, the teen was with her boyfriend when they decided to use a delivery app to order an aerosol keyboard cleaner to her parents' home in Tempe, without her mother’s knowledge, mum Dana O’Rourke told AZ Family.
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After inhaling the product, she went into cardiac arrest and was taken to intensive care before she passed away on Sunday (1 June).
Her heartbroken parents, Aaron and Dana, have since issued a warning to other parents about the deadly trend, as they paid tribute to their ‘wonderful’ and ‘beautiful’ daughter.
Dana told the publication: “There’s no ID required. It’s odourless. 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.”
“Don’t take your kids word for it,’ she added. “Dig deep. Search their rooms. Don’t trust and that sounds horrible, but it could save their life.”
The mother continued: “I want to make sure that we use our tragedy so that no other parent has to experience looking at their child on life support and a ventilator and not breathing on her own all because she huffed out of a can.”
Dr Randy Weisman, who leads the Intensive Care Unit at HonorHealth Scottsdale Osborn Medical Center, has also raised concerns.
He said: “She’s not the only one that this has happened to. Several other teenagers have succumb to this same disorder.”
The doctor explained that inhaling the substance can make the user feel euphoric for a few minutes before the deadly, irreversible effects kick in.
Dr Weisman said that when the chemicals are inhaled, it can lead to ‘failure of the liver, heart failure and disease of the lungs’, as the gas replaces the oxygen within their body.
Paying tribute to their daughter, dad Aaron wrote on Facebook: “There’s a lot of things that no one should ever have to do, and today I have to do one of them. Say goodbye to my beautiful, wonderful girl Renna.
“From the moment she was born she could light up a room. Everyone that met her always said she had a special spark to her.
“I’m going to miss talking to her about how cute it was when she was not even 2 years old and I would say let’s kick it and she would kick her foot out. Or how she would just make up songs off the cuff and have me record them.”
He continued: “I’m currently stunned and broken. It doesn’t even feel real. You will always be my little Ren Bear, and you will be missed more than you will ever know, by so many more people than just me.”
A GoFundMe has since been set up by Renna’s family to cover medical bills and funeral costs, as well as spread awareness of ‘dusting’.