Boy Dies in Freak Accident Days Before His First Birthday After Balloon Animal Came Undone and Went into His Esophagus
The 11-month-old’s mom is advocating for stricter balloon regulations and warning parents about the potential dangers
A Wisconsin mom is grieving the loss of her baby son, who died just days before his first birthday after ingesting a piece of a balloon.
Speaking with NBC Chicago, Kisha Avita-Wilson shared that her son, Don’Vyaire Avita-Mays, or “baby Don,” as the family lovingly called him, died on Oct. 24 — just two days before his first birthday — following an incident at a trunk-or-treat event in Kenosha.
According to the grieving mom, she had taken her older kids — two daughters — to the family Halloween event, and they were given balloon animals.
“We were keeping the balloons away from Baby Don, and one of the balloons came undone,” Avita-Wilson recalled to the outlet.
“He grabbed it, and he bit it, and when he bit it, it shot the tied-up part into the bottom of his esophagus,” she recounted. “I grabbed him immediately out of his car seat. I performed CPR … I stuck my fingers down his throat. The person that I was with tried to do the same things also, and he turned blue immediately and went into cardiac arrest.”
An ambulance was called, and emergency medical personnel quickly tried to remove the balloon piece using a tube inserted down the 11-month-old’s throat and a pair of pliers.
“It was nothing that we could have done to save my baby boy,” Avita-Wilson told the outlet. “I don’t like to talk about him in past tense, but he isn’t here with us any longer.”
Avita-Wilson is currently 30 weeks pregnant, and the stress of the situation caused her to become hospitalized after having early contractions and becoming prematurely dilated, her aunt and adoptive mother shared in a GoFundMe post.
In the fundraiser — set up to help with Don’Vyaire’s funeral expenses — the 11-month-old’s family remembered him as “a handsome little boy whose laugh was infectious, whose smile could light up any room, and who was loved by so many.”
“We ask that everyone continues to pray for Kisha, her girls and especially her unborn child,” the fundraiser message adds.
Avita-Wilson is now advocating for parents to be careful giving their children balloons — and calling for them to no longer be sold.
“Balloons have warnings on them, but that is not enough,” she said. “They should stop selling them. Stop marketing them to kids. Stop producing them.”
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