Strange bruising, red marks on the neck, bloodshot eyes, severe headaches, aggression: These are all warning signs that someone you know may be playing a deadly “game” known as the Choking Game.
Also known as the Blackout Game, the Fainting Game, Space Monkey, Airplaning, the American Dream, Roulette, Flatliner, the California High and Passout, this so called “game” is not one to joke about. Participants in the Choking Game tie belts, sheets or ropes around their neck or chest. This cuts off oxygen to the brain, giving them a feeling of light-headedness. Once the pressure is released, blood rushes back into the brain, giving them a “rush” or a “high.” Every second participants play, they kill thousands of brain cells. This can cause seizures, headaches, fractures, brain injury or even induce a vegetative state. Participants can pass out and even potentially die from lack of oxygen.
“I’ve heard of the Choking Game before. It’s horrible. I remember my mom getting an email about it a few years ago because apparently there were kids at my middle school who were playing it,” junior Maree Sanderson said.
250 to 1,000 American teenagers between the ages of 9 and 16 die each year from the Choking Game. In fact, earlier this year, two Chicagoland students fell prey to its deadly consequences.
Rebekah Toia and Angelena Ohanessian were typical high school students at Whitney Young High and Ressurrection College Prep. They both loved playing sports for their high school teams and hung out with their friends. But their lives were abruptly cut short after playing the Choking Game. After only 14 and 15 years of life, they passed away: the horrible consequence of getting a quick high.
“The biggest problem is that kids think that it’s safe when, in reality, it’s not,” School Nurse Cam Traut said.
The Choking Game is sometimes known as the “good kid’s high” because the typical participant is one who keeps up with school and friends and afterschool activities. Even though some people are lulled into a false sense of safeness because it does not involve drugs or alcohol, it can have the same deadly and damaging consequences.
Some parents and friends of victims have decided to take a stand in the prevention and education of the Choking Game. Bobbi Jo Marceno started a foundation called “The Kris Marceno Foundation” after her son, Kris Marceno, fell victim to the Choking Game in 2008.
“The purpose of the foundation is to educate. We want both parents and kids to be aware of the consequences of the Choking Game so no one will have to go through the same things I did,” Marceno said.
Along with Sara Huck, who had been friends with Kris, Bobbi Jo goes to schools, community groups and church groups, to talk about her experiences and the dangers of the Choking Game. The foundation also holds fundraisers such as a family casino night, a talent show (where the winner receives a scholarship) and a motorcycle bike run.
The Kris Marceno Foundation is based in North Carolina, but they are slowly beginning to expand their organization to all corners of the United States.
“We have mostly had presentations at schools around North Carolina, but we recently did a radio interview in Florida, and we hope to become a national organization,” Marceno said.
Unfortunately, there are still some schools that are not as open and willing to talk about issues like the Choking Game. Even the high school that Kris attended before he passed away has not allowed Marceno’s presentation to occur at the school.
“Some schools just don’t see it as an issue, or they think that somehow the presentation will cause copycats who did not know about the Choking Game previously,” Marceno said. “The one thing I would want teenagers to know is that getting a quick high is not worth losing everything, especially their lives.”
More information about the Choking Game can be found at www.krismarcenofoundation.com. A Public Service Announcement make by Sarah Huck can also be viewed there.
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