Boy, 9, suffers horrific burns in social media microwave challenge

A 9-year-old boy is lucky not to lose his eye after suffering horrific burns taking part in a disturbing new social media trend.

Several children are thought to have been injured like Caleb Chabolla after he filmed himself putting a plastic toy into a microwave for likes on TikTok.

With his mum thinking he was sorting out his own breakfast, he was actually heating up a Needoh cube, a sensory toy or stress ball popular with schoolkids.

But as Caleb opened the microwave, the cube, filled with gelatinous material, exploded, sending molten gelatinous material all over his face and hands.

His mother Whitney Grubb said she heard Caleb let out a ‘blood-curdling scream’ as he got ready for school.

Grubb tried to rinse the material off in the shower, but the goo was so thick and sticky he was rushed to an emergency room before being transferred to Loyola’s burn centre in Chicago.

‘It wasn’t anything malicious, it was just kids sharing stories, and unfortunately, he decided to try it’, she told the Chicago Sun Times. 

His eye was also ‘completely swollen shut’ after the toy exploded, Grubb told CBS News. 

Kelly McElligott, a burn outreach coordinator with Loyola, said Caleb was left with such bad injuries because the gelatin material is ‘so vicious.’ 

‘Because it’s so viscous, it sticks, and it stays hot longer, it’s going to cause a more significant burn,’ McElligott told the outlet. 

‘Do not heat these up in any way, shape, or form. Whether it’s the microwave, hot water, those things can really be dangerous,’ she warned. 

Grubb echoed the expert’s findings, adding: ‘Just talk with your kids, make sure they understand the safety of the things.’ 

‘Unfortunately, Caleb’s is the fourth case we have seen this year with Needoh cubes,’ said Paula Petersen, a burn centre advanced practice nurse.

‘Caleb is very lucky he didn’t sustain greater injuries. These trends can be extremely dangerous for young people who are less likely to consider or unable to understand the serious consequences.’

According to TikTok spokesperson Nick Smith, TikTok’s community guidelines prohibit content that promotes dangerous activities.

‘We remove these videos when we find them and in Q3 of last year, we removed 99.8% of them proactively (before any reports were filed) and more than 97% within 24 hours,’ Smith said.

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