http://www.kdvr.com/news/kdvr-girl-choking-game-txt,0,2592868.story?track=rss
WHEAT RIDGE, Colo. --
A warning to parents - kids are playing a game with potentially deadly consequences.
An Arvada family learned that the hard way, after their daughter was injured Monday playing the '
choking game.'
Gabrielle Abuzahra is a smart 13-year-old. But she knew very little about a game she played at school that left her with a broken eye socket, fractured sinus bone, seven stitches and a concussion.
It happened in a girl's bathroom at lunchtime.
"My friend choked me until I passed out. I fell flat on the floor," said Abuzahra.
The choking game, also called the
pass-out game, is a global problem.
People do it to get a brief feeling of euphoria.
"I heard the feeling you had after, were, they made you feel tingly. The farthest thing from my mind was, I was going to get hurt. But I did," said Abuzahra.
"I am really blessed right now that my daughter is not dead," said Abuzahra's mother, Crystal Virgil.
She wants other parents to know it's a game in which you play with your life.
"They call it a game. It is not a game. It is a serious cutting off oxygen to your brain chance you are taking with your life," she said.
And there are no winners.
"I kind of lost. Yah. I lost because I got hurt," said Abuzahra.
But she says she's now using the painful lesson to educate others.
"People should not play this game. It may seem like a game, but it's not. It's a chance. Basically a chance of life or death."
Eight-two people have died in the U.S. from the
choking game or a version of it since 1995.
Warning signs parents should look out for include: red eyes, marks on their kid's throat, and severe headaches.
Also, watch for belts, ropes and leashes tied in knots in unusual locations.
Wheat Ridge police is also investigating possible criminal charges
