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<\/p>\nA MUM has spoken out to warn other parents of the dangers of helium balloons after her seven year old daughter was killed by her own birthday balloon.<\/p>\n
Tiffany McIntyre, from Texas, was devastated when she walked into her daughter Zahmira\u2019s bedroom and found her lifeless with the giant helium balloon over her head.<\/p>\n
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It\u2019s thought that Zahmira burst the balloon whilst playing with it, and put it over her head where she was quickly overcome by the helium gas and suffocated.<\/p>\n
Tiffany, 32, a single mum, and Zahmira\u2019s younger sister Charleigh, six, have been left devastated by their loss.<\/p>\n
Speaking exclusively to Fabulous, Tiffany says: \u201cCharleigh asks about her sister every day and says how much she misses her. It\u2019s heartbreaking.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd every time she sees a balloon she tells everyone that it hurt her sister. She and Zahmira did everything together, they were inseparable.\u201d<\/p>\n
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It was in September 2020 during Covid that Zahmira was having school lessons online, and after one lesson where she hadn\u2019t been concentrating properly, Tiffany sent her daughter into her bedroom to lie on her bunk bed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told her she needed to listen to her teacher,\u201d Tiffany says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cZahmira had ADHD and she kept getting out of her seat and not paying attention.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSo when the lesson finished I told her to go have a lie down whilst I cleaned the house.<\/p>\n
\u201cI put on a movie for Charleigh to watch in the lounge, and I was cleaning my bedroom twenty minutes later when I realised I hadn\u2019t heard Zahmira call out to me, which was unusual, so I went in the bedroom to check on her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tiffany could see her daughter\u2019s pink<\/span> blanket lying bunched up around her, and she was lying down.\u00a0<\/p>\n But as she went towards the bed she could see she was flat on her back, with her birthday helium balloon over her head.<\/p>\n The balloon had been tied to her bedpost after her birthday celebrations.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI yanked the balloon off her head, and carried her down the ladder and took her into the living room and laid her on the floor, then called 911,\u201d said Tiffany.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI couldn\u2019t get through at first, so I was hysterical and ran outside screaming for help.<\/p>\n \u201cThen I went back inside and tried 911 again, and got through, and started doing CPR on her myself. \u201c<\/p>\n The paramedics arrived within minutes and took over.\u00a0<\/p>\n They initially found a heartbeat and raced Zahmira to hospital, where she was put on a life support machine. But they had devastating news for Tiffany.<\/p>\n \u201cThe doctors told me that she wasn\u2019t responding to any tests, and it didn\u2019t look good,\u201d the mum-of-two explains.<\/p>\n Charleigh asks about her sister every day and says how much she misses her. It\u2019s heartbreaking.<\/p>\n Tragically Zahmira didn\u2019t make it, and her life support machine was turned off.<\/p>\n \u201cHer brain had swelled too much, that there was no coming back from it,\u201d says Tiffany.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe doctors told me that inhaling the helium when she put the balloon over her head had knocked her out within seconds.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThey said it was like it put her to sleep and she never woke up from it.\u201d<\/p>\n Now Tiffany and Charleigh just have each other.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been diagnosed with severe depression because of it,\u201d says Tiffany.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf it wasn\u2019t for Charlie I wouldn\u2019t have survived losing Zahmira.\u201d<\/p>\n Her main aim now is to raise awareness about the dangers of helium balloons.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Tiffany says: \u201cThousands of parents have reached out to be because of what happened, and none of them knew how dangerous a helium balloon can be.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve always known about the dangers of children choking on deflated latex balloons, but I never knew about helium ones.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t even see a helium balloon now without breaking down.<\/p>\n \u201cI would warn parents that if they do buy one, then never leave children alone with them. I want to see if I can arrange to visit schools to spread awareness.<\/p>\n \u201cZahmira was such a fun loving little girl. She loved unicorns, playing hoopla and Barbies with Charleigh and she loved to draw too. She had her whole life ahead of her.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHer sister asks about her every day, and says how much she misses her, and it's so heartbreaking.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI need to spread awareness about the dangers so no other family gets ripped apart like ours did.\u201d<\/p>\n Fabulous will pay for your exclusive stories. Just email:\u00a0fabulousdigital@the-sun.co.uk\u00a0and pop EXCLUSIVE in the subject line<\/strong>.<\/p>\n According to the the London Helium Balloons company, there are many dangers associated with balloons.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/crop-23182887.jpg\")
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