A mom in Florida is warning other families after her son suffered a serious asthma attack after eating a popular frozen dessert called Dragon's Breath.
Dragon's Breath is a frozen dessert made from cereal dipped in liquid nitrogen. When eaten, the treat produces vapors that come out of the nose and mouth and the person eating it appears to be breathing smoke.
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The dessert is very popular, especially with children, which is why Florida mom Racheal McKenny bought the treat for her two children on a recent visit to the mall.
"They had fun and it seemed harmless enough," she said on a now-viral Facebook post.
Soon after the family left the mall and headed home, her son, Johnny, started coughing. The coughing got worse and about 20 minutes later, he was having trouble catching his breath, according to the Facebook post.
Her husband pulled into a fire station where the EMTs immediately gave Johnny an albuterol treatment and hooked him to an IV.
"The nebulizer was not improving his breathing at all and, by the time they got him loaded into the ambulance, he needed a shot of epinephrine. Johnny had a second breathing treatment and steroid on the way to the hospital and was doing so much better by the time we got to Flagler Hospital," McKenny said.
McKenny said it was the nitrogen smoke from the Dragon's Breath cereal that triggered the asthma attack.
She's now warning other parents in hopes that others can learn from her mistake.
Johnny's asthma is usually very mild and he rarely needs to use his inhaler. McKenny said she usually only packed the inhaler with her when she knew their outings would involve a lot of physical exercise so she didn't have it with them for their trip to the mall.
"... if you have a loved one that has an inhaler for any reason, please ALWAYS keep it with you. Maybe that should go without even needing to be said, but it’s certainly important enough to reiterate. Johnny has never needed his inhaler before (even on afternoons where he walks 5+miles in the theme parks), so I’ve never switched it to my purse for simple shopping trips. Again, this was my mistake. Please don’t do that," her Facebook post reads.
That Facebook post has been shared nearly 100,000 times in the past week.
Johnny is doing well now after recovering at home. McKenny says she's eternally grateful for the paramedics who saved her son's life. She said she hoped that Johnny's story could serve as a cautionary tale for others.
There have been several other published reports of injuries caused by Dragon Breath.
South Korean publication Yonhap News reported a 12-year-old boy suffered a perforated stomach after drinking some of the liquid nitrogen that was left in the bottom of a cup of the trendy treat.
A 14-year-old girl in Florida suffered a chemical burn on her finger after handling the dessert, Pensacola station WEAR-TV reported.
WEAR-TV talked to a local pediatrician who said the dessert could cause severe frostbite or cryogenic burns to a person's mouth.
"My recommendation for parents not to let their children do this and I would recommend for other parents not to do it themselves. It seems like it's something interesting and neat, but it could potentially harm you. The risks far outweigh the novelty of it," Dr. Randall Reese told WEAR-TV.
Racheal McKenny's Facebook post:
Dragon’s Breath WARNING I want to share Johnny’s story with everyone to serve as a cautionary tale in hopes that it...
Posted by Racheal Richard McKenny on Wednesday, July 25, 2018