Teen dies after playing 'choking game' he saw on social media

Mason Bogard, of Indiana, died just days after taking the choking challenge and strangling himself to feel a high 

An teenage boy died while playing the dangerous 'choking challenge' that has been widely shared on social media.

Mason Bogard from Evansville, Indiana, passed away just days after he strangled himself to the point of passing out in a bid to experience a high.  

His mother Joann, took to Facebook on Sunday to warn other parents to watch what their children are looking at online.

According to the mother-of-two, Mason attempted the ‘choking challenge' on Wednesday, after he saw it on social media.

‘Unfortunately, we will not have the opportunity to experience so many things with our child because of a stupid challenge on social media,’ Jackson Bogard wrote.

The teen's mother has been posting updates on his condition throughout the duration of his treatment at Deaconess Hospital in Indianapolis, where he was brought in critical conditions suffering from brain damage and a collapsed lung.

Mason's parents  have decided to have their son's organs donated to help save lives

Doctors sedated the teen to allow his brain to heal and applied cooling wraps to get his body temperatures back to normal, but to no avail.

‘My cries are guttural for this sweet boy of mine,’ Jackson Bogard said in one status update. ‘They stopped all sedation, pain meds, and ice wraps this morning. After several tests, he has very little brain activity.’

After learning from her Mason's doctors that there was nothing more than could be done, Bogard and her husband decided to have their son's organs donated.

‘While we are devastated that we will never experience so many things with Mason again, we are able to find some comfort in the fact that Mason will save the lives of others,’ his mother shared. ‘He would have wanted it this way. He was an extremely generous young man.’

As of Sunday night, Mason remained on the ventilator to allow his body to heal enough so that his lungs could be donated.

Doctors had sedated Mason (left and right) to let his brain heal and applied cold wraps to reduce his body temperatures, but there was very little activity in his brain 

Mason is survived by his parents and brother (pictured together as a family) 

‘He has already surpassed expectations and is almost there. He is still showing us how strong he is!’ Jackson Bogard wrote of Mason.

The mother warned other parents to learn from her experience and pay attention to what their children view online.

‘I know our kids always complain that we're being too overprotective but it's ok, it's our job,’ she added.

This is not the first time that the choking challenge, also known as the ‘choking game’ and the ‘fainting game,’ has resulted in a child's death.

In May 2018, 12-year-old Tua Muai, from Utah, died after playing the dangerous game with some friends.

Mason's mother warned other parents to pay attention to what their children view online. Between 1995 and 2007, 82 children between the ages of six and 19 died after playing the choking game

According to an article published in Time magazine a year ago, the choking game appears to date back to the 1930s, though it could be even older than that. suffocated to death.

Between 1995 and 2007, 82 children between the ages of six and 19 died after playing the game, most being boys between the ages of 11 and 16, according to a 2008 US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report.

The federal government stopped monitoring choking game deaths in 2008, so it's unclear how many children have fallen victim to the game in recent years. 

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