Australian journalist Ally Langdon couldn’t conceal the deep sadness she felt while speaking with a grieving mother and father who had to make the heart-wrenching decision to end the life of their 13-year-old daughter, the very child they had brought into the world.

The young girl lost her life after falling victim to a dangerous viral trend known as chroming. As a mother herself, Langdon found it difficult to hold back her tears during the emotional conversation.

Appearing on A Current Affair with host Ally Langdon, Andrea and Paul Haynes recounted the tragic story of their 13-year-old daughter, Esra Haynes, who lost her life after participating in a dangerous social media trend known as chroming. This harmful activity involves inhaling toxic chemicals through the mouth or nose to achieve a high.

Esra, described by the Montrose Football Netball Club as “determined, fun, cheeky, and talented,” was an accomplished young athlete. She co-captained the club’s team, raced BMX bikes alongside her brothers, and led her team to victory at a national aerobics championship in Queensland.

On March 31, Esra went to a friend’s house for a sleepover, a seemingly ordinary evening that turned tragic. In search of a brief high, she inhaled aerosol deodorant, which led to cardiac arrest and caused irreversible brain damage.

“It was just the usual routine of hanging out with her friends,” her mother, Andrea, shared in an interview with Langdon. Her father, Paul, added, “We always knew where she was and who she was with. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary… Receiving that phone call late at night, the kind no parent ever wants to get, was devastating: ‘Come and get your daughter.’”

Langdon reported that Esra’s friends initially thought she was having a panic attack. However, after inhaling the deodorant, her body began to shut down due to cardiac arrest, and unfortunately, no one at the sleepover knew how to respond.

When Andrea arrived, paramedics were already trying to revive Esra. It was then that they informed her that Esra had been chroming, a term Andrea had never heard before that day.

Esra was rushed to the hospital, where her family held on to the hope that she might recover. Despite her strong heart and lungs, the doctors eventually had to tell Paul and Andrea that Esra’s brain damage was beyond repair, forcing them to make the heart-wrenching decision to turn off life support.

Struggling to find the words, her parents described the unbearable pain of letting their daughter go. They were asked to gather family and friends for final goodbyes. “It was incredibly difficult to do that to such a young soul,” Paul recalled. “We laid beside her, holding her until the end.”

Langdon, visibly moved by the parents’ grief, was unable to hold back her tears, especially as a mother herself.

After Esra passed away in early April, Paul described the family as “completely broken,” with Esra’s siblings, Imogen, Seth, and Charlie, deeply affected. “It’s been devastating for everyone involved, including all her friends,” Paul said. “We haven’t been sleeping, we can’t eat, we can’t smile—we’re just not ourselves… It’s not just us; the whole community is impacted.”

Before losing their daughter, Paul and Andrea had never heard of chroming. Now, they are determined to raise awareness about the dangerous trend, which involves inhaling common household products like deodorant, paint, hairspray, or even permanent markers, a practice that has gained popularity among teens.

In an interview with a local news station, Paul expressed his regret for not knowing about chroming sooner: “If we had been aware, we would have had that conversation around the kitchen table.”

“We need to get the word out so kids can learn about the dangers firsthand, from their parents, and not from friends or social media. They need to get the right advice from the start.”

Paul is now focused on educating parents so they can, in turn, educate their children and hopefully prevent more tragedies. “Parents need to sit down with their kids and gently open up this conversation. We had no idea this was happening.”

Since 2009, chroming has led to the deaths of numerous children across Australia and around the world. The practice, which can cause seizures, heart attacks, suffocation, sudden sniffing death, comas, and organ failure, appeals to young people because it offers an immediate, short-term high.

“We’ll never forget the images of what we saw that night,” Paul told Langdon. “It was like our hearts were ripped out.”

It’s unimaginable how heartbreaking it must be for a family to decide to take their young child off life support. Our deepest sympathies are with the Haynes family and everyone who loved Esra.

Please share this story with others to help raise awareness and educate parents about the dangers of this tragic trend, potentially saving the lives of other children.