Grieving mom warns other parents of deadly online challenge

A Saskatoon woman is urging other parents to be vigilant after her son died just 2 1/2 weeks shy of his 14th birthday.

Melanie Anderson says her son Cash died doing a challenge that’s going around online. Cash was choking himself to pass out and get a high.

She says it’s called “The Good Kids’ High.” Kids and teens are using ligatures like belts, ropes and other ties to cut off their air supply until they pass out. Rather than doing risky drugs, they are getting high by passing out.

“They think this is a way to get a safe high when it’s just as deadly or deadlier than fentanyl,” Anderson said. “They don’t realize that they can’t get out of it fast enough once it’s got a grip on them. They panic, which ups their blood pressure, which just makes them pass out quicker and then their body goes limp and the weight pulls them down.”

On the evening of Feb. 6, Anderson found Cash dead in his room.

“I don’t know how to even put it into words … just the shock and the disbelief,” she said. “The panic settled and the pain set in when I realized he was so gone, there was nothing anyone could do.”

Cash had recently been lectured for a mark on his neck Anderson thought was a hickey.

“It wasn’t your typical round hickey and looking back it’s crystal clear what the heck it was,” she said.

It was after Cash died that Anderson’s niece told her about the pass-out challenge she had seen on TikTok.

“I’ve heard that some are videotaping it and some are faking it,” Anderson said. “So they’re making it look like it’s survivable for the likes (on social media), for the attention — anything to watch their page and get more followers. It’s crazy.”

She wants other parents to know about these pass-out challenges that have been around for decades and keep resurfacing.

Anderson says parents need to know what their kids are doing online — even if they have to keep tabs on their kids’ phones.

“(The idea is) not to invade their privacy but to see the discussions they are having,” she said. “It’s the only way to know what they are doing. You are not invading their privacy; you are keeping your children alive.”

Cash would have turned 14 this past Tuesday.

“He was a bright, beautiful light in the room. He was a ray of sunshine. The minute he left this world, the house got so big and it just got so quiet,” she said.