After her son passed away after a terrifying event with a helium balloon on his birthday, a distraught mother has called for their outlawing.
Joshua Dunbar, 8, of Birkenhead, Merseyside, was taken to the hospital after being discovered unconscious on the floor of his bedroom, with a balloon in the shape of an eight over his head.
According to post mortem results from an inquest into his untimely demise, Joshua’s cause of death was “consistent with asphyxia involving a helium balloon,” which is another name for suffocating.
“What has happened is helium has displaced the available air to breathe, and that is what has caused Joshua’s death,” coroner Andre Rebello said during the hearing, despite the fact that helium is “not poisonous.”
Helium balloons “destroy lives and take lives, literally within a matter of minutes,” according to the young boy’s distraught mother Carly, who has now openly advocated for their prohibition.
“There is no cure for a broken heart or the pain of losing your child,” Carly wrote in a Facebook post. Please believe me when I tell that you should not purchase helium balloons for your kids.
