Mom Warns Other Parents After Her 12-Year-Old Son Dies Playing a 'Choking Game' with Friends
A 12-year-old Utah boy is dead after he played the “choking game” with his friends.
Tua Muai, a sixth grader, died on Friday after he and his friends thought it would be fun to cut off the oxygen to their brain to get a feeling of euphoria.
“I spent Mother’s Day planning my son’s funeral, writing his obituary, instead of having breakfast or flowers or ‘I love you mom,’” Tua’s mother, Celestia Muai, told Fox 13 Salt Lake City.
“Try to imagine what it would be like and multiply that by infinity and that’s kind of what it’s like… there’s no words,” she continued.
It was Celestia who found her son unconscious after having played the game and called 911, the outlet reported.
“He was just playing a game and he didn’t think things through,” Celestia said.
His family created a YouCaring page for Tua’s funeral and memorial expenses, as well as long-term support to his family, which includes his seven brothers and sisters.
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“He is a light and joy to all who know him. His zeal for adventure and making others laugh will be remembered forever,” the page read. “He loved football and his band of brothers were his dearest comrades, and his coach was like a second father to him.”
“He is welcomed into heaven by his dear father, Felise Muai, who passed away unexpectedly 2 years ago,” the post continued. “We know that was a joyful reunion for sweet Tua. He is dearly missed by his grandparents, cousins, and much extended family and friends.”
It’s Celestia’s hope that her son’s story will serve as a warning to parents.
“There’s nothing that can take the pain away but if it can save one child, one parent, one family,” she told Fox 13 Salt Lake City. “Then it will make more sense.”
Tua isn’t the first child to have died from the “choking game,” also known as the “fainting game.”
Eighty-two children died in the United States between 1995 and 2007 from playing the game, according to TIME. Most of the children who passed away were boys between the ages of 11 and 16, the magazine reported.