She says her son had seen the ‘Blackout Challenge’ on TikTok
A mum who found her teenage boy dead in his bedroom has said he was attempting the same viral challenge that Archie Battersbee’s mother believe killed him.
Lauryn Keating found Leon Brown, 14, unresponsive in his room last Thursday (August 25).
She has now issued a desperate plea to other families to be wary of the online trend and its dangers.
She told the Daily Record that she believes Leon was attempting the Blackout Challenge, a social media trend that encourages people to restrict their breath until they fall unconscious.
Lauryn said one of her son’s friends told her Leon had been doing the challenge on Facetime after seeing it on TikTok.
She continued “My Leon thought he would be the one to try it first. Him and his friends probably thought it was a laugh and a joke.
“One of the kids who he was on Facetime with told me what he had done. She said they thought they would wake up. But Leon didn’t come back around. It went horribly wrong.
“I had heard of this challenge, because of what happened to Archie Battersbee.
“But you just don’t expect your own child to do it. Please warn them, these online challenges aren’t worth their lives.
“They aren’t worth ‘likes’ or whatever they are doing it for.”
Speaking of popular youngster Leon, who was a pupil at Our Lady’s High School in Cumbernauld, Lauryn said: “He was the happiest, funniest wee boy ever. He was a bit of a class clown and he liked to make people laugh.
“Everything was always a joke and a carry on to Leon. He was just a wee cheeky boy. But he meant so much to me.”
Archie Battersbee’s mum Hollie Dance recently claimed that 82 kids had died attempting the same challenge that she believes killed her son.
Speaking to the Mirror in her first interview since Archie’s passing, she said: “The social media companies don’t do enough to stop harmful content online.
“It’s out there and people are grooming our children to do these challenges, it’s disgusting. The people – they’re often adults, not children – who are demonstrating these challenges are sick.”
Dance said that she recently found footage online of a man in his 30s “demonstrating” how to do the challenge by tying something around his neck and pulling it tight.
“This is a grown man demonstrating this ‘trick’ to children. Those people need to be held accountable. The police and the Government need to work together to stop this,” she said.
She found Archie unconscious at their home in Southend on April 7.
Doctors at Royal London Hospital declared him “brain-stem dead” and said he had suffered catastrophic brain injuries.
After a long and protracted legal battle to extend his treatment, Archie’s life support was turned off on August 6 and he passed away.
Related links:
- Jordan Henderson pays emotional tribute to Olivia Pratt-Korbel after Liverpool’s 9-0 rout
- Missing British brothers, 7 and 9, found dead after drowning in swimming pool on holiday
- Brain death test in UK under review after baby declared dead began breathing two weeks later
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