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EMAIL OF THE DAY: THE CHOKING GAMEBy Charlie SykesHi Jeff and Charlie,
I wanted to share this story with you in case the recent news of the Columbus high school boy who died of the "choking game" is mentioned on your show.
We lost our son, Jack, at 13 years old to the same activity. He was a 8th grade student at Longfellow M.S. in Wauwatosa. He died Oct 25, 2006. We worked so hard to bring awareness about this deadly activity to our area by organizing a parent information night, a school district inservice (at the Wauwatosa school district in May of 2008) and a police officer- school resource officer training session at MATC (Oct. 2008). We are currently working with Children's Hospital to come up with some type of programing for pediatricians and other medical providers who might be able to recognize signs of kids doing this activity. I am so sad that the Jensen family of Columbus has to experience this tragic loss and that we were not able to help prevent that.
Here are two excellent web sites if you want to familize yourself about the "choking game" before you talk about it. It happens more than anyone can realize because so often the deaths are ruled suicide or undetermined. Its common knowledge in the schools but kids wont talk about it once the tragedy occurs.
In response to these kinds of stories, many people react with - these were dumb kids, these kids had no supervision, where were the parents? I can tell you that Jack was a very bright boy, was supervised and held accountable for the impulsive teenage actions he was doing and I was in our home when he did this activity. I had just spoken to him 15 minutes before I found him, on his knees. I was going to ask him to come help me make his favorite dinner, Chancery Chicken.
If this topic does come up on either of your shows, please direct anyone to these two excellent web sites.
Thank you and call if you need any more information,
Sincerely,
Judy Doyle, Jack's Mom
Wauwatosa, Wisconsin
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Friday, Jul 17 at 3:23 PM Kenny G to Lyndi wrote ...
I am so sorry for your loss. I know what it's like to lose a child. I lost my daughter to an injury in 1998. It never goes away. I have talked to my kids extensively on this topic, since it became public. I encourage everyone to do the same. Let's not be naive and pretend that this is 'someone else's' problem. It only takes one moment for a child's life to slip away, leaving a void so deep that words can't explain it. I'll be honest: I'd buy pot for my kids if they wanted to get high THIS badly!
26279369 Flag for moderationFriday, Jul 17 at 2:02 PM Lyndi Trost, Braden's Gramma wrote ...
My 13 yer old grandson, Braden died while participating in this dreadful activity on May 20, 2005. This is a very real and continuing problem and many of our youth know everything about it except how dangerous it is. GASP and The DB Foundation are both great resources as is http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/Ed4Ed/ for anyone wishing to help educate our youth about this activity.
26274114 Flag for moderationWednesday, Jul 15 at 6:04 AM Carl Skalitzky wrote ...
Sadness aside, at least we are not blaming "Flatliners" the movie. I am thinking oh maybe a supply of oxygen and maybe a defibulator might be handy to keep nearby. Getting choked by someone in a fight is no fun, so I cannot imagine wanting to faint.
26098812 Flag for moderationTuesday, Jul 14 at 8:09 PM Kenny G wrote ...
Tragic. What tricks kids into such things? I played the gasp.com vid for my kids while we talked about this activity. The 911 call was so horrific, we all cried listening to the boy who found his brother dead, hanging from the bed. Tragic.
26078866 Flag for moderationTuesday, Jul 14 at 6:00 PM Snowbird wrote ...
Stupid is, Stupid does. End of discusion.
26072514 Flag for moderationTuesday, Jul 14 at 11:02 AM BOB WINTER wrote ...
I AM 43 AND I REMEBER IN NEW BERLIN ABOUT 30 YEARS AGO A STUDENT AT HERBERT HOVER DIED AS A RESULT TO THIS HE PASSED OUT AND RECOUPED FROM THIS THEN TOOK A FEW STEPS AND FELL OVER HITTING HIS HEAD AND THIS EVANTUALLY LED TO HIS DEATH PAUL GLEFFI?
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