Family's anguish as son, 14, dies while playing 'choking game' as deadly internet craze sweeps America
By Snejana Farberov
PUBLISHED: 20:37 EST, 11 August 2012 | UPDATED: 08:25 EST, 12 August 2012
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Life cut short: Isaiah Shell, 14, was found dead in the basement of his home after playing a choking game to get high
A risky game teenagers play to get high has claimed the life of a 14-year-old boy from Salem, Indiana, last week, according to authorities.
The coroner has determined that Isaiah Shell died last Friday from accidental positional asphyxiation as a result of the choking game.
Isaiah should have started his first day of eighth grade at Salem Middle School on Thursday. Instead, his heart-broken parents were left planning his funeral, according to the station WLKY.
‘He never would have ever wanted any of us to hurt like we hurt,’ said the victim’s mother, Maggie Shell. ‘I know this wasn't something he meant to do.’
Experts said the deadly game, which has become an Internet craze thanks to numerous video demonstrations posted online, involves intentionally trying to choke oneself to attain a brief and intense high produced when oxygen intake is decreased.
‘I've heard of it, but I never thought someone like Isaiah would ever play that game,’ Isaiah’s sister, Rhonda Shell, told WLKY.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...akes-hold.html