A 13-year-old girl has died following the inhalation og dangerous chemicals from a deodorant can, and now her parent's are making it their mission to spread the news.
Esra Haynes suffered cardiac arrest and sustained irreparable brain damage after participating in an increasingly popular trend called “chroming” while at a friend’s sleepover on March 31st, 2023.
Her parents, Paul and Andrea, were never aware it would happen.
“It was just the regular routine of going to hang out with her mates."
“We always knew where she was and we knew who she was with. It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary."
“To get this phone call at that time of night, (it) was one of the calls no parent ever wants to have to receive and we unfortunately got that call: ‘Come and get your daughter.’
“We’ve got the pictures in our mind which will never be erased, you know, of what we were confronted with.”
Paramedics worked to revive Esra and told her mother she had been "chroming."
"Chroming" is a dangerous, growing trend where chemicals in aerosol cans and inhaled to give the person a quick high.
That high ended up fatal for “beautiful” and “cheeky” Esra.
She was rushed to hospital in an unresponsive state and placed on life support.
Eight days later, her doctors claimed “her brain was damaged beyond repair”, and her family decided to turn off the machines.
“They’re asking us to bring family, friends to say goodbye to our 13-year-old daughter. It was a very, very difficult thing to do to such a young soul.”
Her parents, and older siblings, Imogen, Seth, and Charlie “cuddled her until the end.”
Esra is just the latest Australian teen to tragically die after "chroming."
A16-year-old NSW boy died after inhaling from an aerosol in 2019, and in 2021, a 16-year-old girl in Queensland suffered brain damage from "chroming."
Last year, another 16-year-old boy from Victoria died following the same trend.
Multiple Coles and Woolworths branches started locking up the deodorant in 2021, after a rise in thefts occurred, and amid concerns of rising rates of "chroming."
The Victorian Education Department have now accelerated efforts to provide schoolchildren with information regarding "chroming" and medical experts have even spoken out about the dangers.
Paul and Andrea want more action though. They want widespread change to prevent another family suffering through the same heartbreak.
They are pleading for aerosol manufacturers to change the formulas to be safer, for CPR to be taught in all schools across Australia.
They also want those first aid skills refreshed every two years.
“For me it’s a pistol sitting on the shelf. We need the manufacturers to step up and really change the formulation or the propellants.”
Paul explained there should also be tighter security on social media, as they believe this is how Esra learnt about "chroming." They think is should be "to really lock down on the loopholes” that kids slip through to get access to “adult content”.
They also want the everyone to know about the dangers of "chroming."
“Kids don’t look beyond the next day, they really don’t. And especially not knowing how it can affect them. Esra would never have done this if she would have known the consequences. But the ripple effect is that this is absolutely devastating. We’ve got no child to bring home or anything.”
“We need to talk about it,” Paul said. “Her name meant helper so that’s what we’re here to do.”
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