11-month-old grabbed a balloon animal two days before his first birthday. Within seconds, his mother was fighting to save his life
'Balloons have warnings on them, but that is not enough,' said the mother, Kisha Avita-Wilson
A family went from preparing to sing “Happy Birthday” to their 11-month-old and blow out the first birthday candle to praying for his life in a span of 48 hours. Don'Vayaire Avita-Mays, affectionately called “Baby Don,” accidentally bit an animal balloon and swallowed the latex piece, which blocked his esophagus. Now, his mother, Kisha Avita-Wilson, is warning parents to keep their babies away from balloons, as reported by NBC Chicago in an October 30, 2026, post, a clip of which was posted on October 31, 2026, gaining over 409,000 views since.
When Halloween became cursed
On October 24, Wilson took her two older daughters to a trunk-or-treat event in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where they received balloon animals. They made sure the balloons stayed away from Baby Don, but one suddenly came undone and reached his arms. “He grabbed it, and he bit it, and when he bit it, it shot the tied-up part into the bottom of his esophagus," Wilson described. In the moment, she immediately grabbed the baby and started performing CPR. She stuck her fingers down his throat. “The person that I was with tried to do the same things also, and he turned blue immediately and went into cardiac arrest,” she recalled.
When the ambulance came, the emergency professionals slipped tubes and pliers down his throat, but it was too late. “It was nothing that we could have done to save my baby boy," Wilson lamented. "I don't like to talk about him in past tense, but he isn't here with us any longer.”
'I just want to bring balloon awareness'
Currently, Wilson is 30 weeks pregnant, and the stress of losing her baby has led to early contractions. And as she grapples with profound grief, she warns other parents and balloon-makers to keep balloons away from their kiddos. “Balloons have warnings on them, but that is not enough,” she said. “They should stop selling them. Stop marketing them to kids. Stop producing them.” Her family also created a GoFundMe to raise funds for creating his memorial. “All of this is so sudden and so tragic, and I just want to bring balloon awareness,” Wilson’s sister, Ayana Avitia, wrote on the campaign’s page, detailing the entire story.
Leading cause of babies' deaths
This is not the first time a balloon has claimed the life of an infant. According to research published in the journal Cureus, latex balloons are the leading cause of choking fatalities in children. They can easily shift from the esophagus, seal the larynx or trachea, and cause sudden asphyxiation. In this study, they particularly analyzed the death of a 23-month-old infant and found that balloons cause more child deaths than any other type of foreign object. 25% of the deaths involve youngsters aged six years or older.
'Made me aware'
The incident reinforced the fear of balloons in many viewers. @MelissaMorgan-i7o wrote, “I can remember when my kids were babies; balloons were a big fear. They are so dangerous to babies.” @jimmyjack7083 suggested, “Treat every object that can fit in your baby's mouth as a potentially life-threatening situation.”
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