A young boy tragically died after attempting a dangerous social media challenge involving over-the-counter drugs.

13-year-old Jacob Stevens suffered a medical emergency after attempting the ‘Benadryl challenge’ by consuming 14 antihistamine pills while his friends filmed his reaction to the drugs.

Moments after eating the dangerous amount of pills, the Ohio teenager’s body started seizing up and he was rushed to the hospital in critical condition.

According to the doctors, the child’s brain functions stopped completely and he relied entirely on life support to stay alive.

After six grueling days, Jacob’s devastated family decided to turn off the life support systems and say their final goodbyes to the young student.

Now, Jacob’s grieving father, Justin, has spoken out to warn other parents about the dangers of social media challenges.

“Keep an eye on what they’re doing on that phone. Talk to them about the situation. I want everyone to know about my son,” he said.

Meanwhile, grandmother Dianna vowed to “do anything I can to make sure another child doesn’t go through it.”

Justin also remembered Jacob as a “caring kid” who always put a smile on other people’s faces.

“It didn’t matter how bad of a day I was having, no one could make me smile, Jacob could make me smile,” he added.

Following the Ohio tragedy, the heartbroken family began pushing the lawmakers to take action in ensuring the children’s safety by imposing age restrictions on social media accounts and over-the-counter prescriptions.

As the family suggested, users should present identification to prove their age before being allowed to have their own social media accounts.

Previously, in 2020, a 15-year-old girl from Oklahoma died attempting the same TikTok challenge. Following her death, the FDA issued a statement that read:

“Taking higher than recommended doses of the common over-the-counter (OTC) allergy medicine diphenhydramine (Benadryl) can lead to serious heart problems, seizures, coma or even death.

“We are aware of news reports of teenagers ending up in emergency rooms or dying after participating in the ‘Benadryl Challenge’ encouraged in videos posted on the social media application TikTok.”

Our thoughts are with Jacob’s family during this challenging time.

 

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