An 8-Year-Old's Family Is Warning Others About the Dangers of Balloons After Their Daughter Suffocated

Hours after her father's home birthday party, 8-year-old Jaina Vue McGloghlon was found dead with a balloon over her head by her dad, who went into her room to check on her after she was meant to be asleep. Though it's widely known that balloons pose a safety hazard to children, as kids could potentially suffocate while playing with one, Jaina's family wants to reiterate this information to make sure this never happens to another family.

"It was a big mylar balloon, the number three, and it had different size fill-holes. The only thing we can think is that she would have opened it to suck the helium out, and put it over her head," the child's grandmother told KATU. Her father, Mike McGloghlon, did his best to perform CPR when he discovered his daughter, and medical personnel who arrived at the scene attempted to resuscitate the girl for over an hour, to no avail. Her death is being ruled an accident.

Jaina's parents and grandmother are telling this story as a warning to other parents to beware of partially inflated balloons — the CPSC warns parents against uninflated balloons and pieces of popped ones — as this tragedy could have been prevented.