“We were keeping the balloons away from Baby Don, and one of the balloons came undone,” Kisha Avita-Wilson told NBC Chicago of the harrowing moments before a family gathering turned irreversible.
Just two days before his first birthday, 11-month-old Don’Vayaire Avita-Mays—known to his family as “Baby Don”—died on October 24 after a balloon animal piece popped and lodged in his esophagus during a Halloween party in Wisconsin, the NY Post reported.
The Tragic Timeline at a Family Gathering
The celebration took a sudden, devastating turn when a decorative balloon came apart. Avita-Wilson recounted that the infant grabbed the piece, bit into it, and the action forcefully propelled the tied-off rubber segment deep into the base of his throat.
“He grabbed it, and he bit it, and when he bit it, it shot the tied-up part into the bottom of his esophagus,” Avita-Wilson explained to NBC Chicago.
Immediate panic set in. Avita-Wilson pulled her son out of his car seat, performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and reached down his throat in a desperate attempt to dislodge the obstruction. A family member present at the scene attempted the same life-saving measures, but the infant turned blue almost instantly and went into cardiac arrest, according to details shared with the NY Post.
First responders arrived quickly, utilizing a specialized tube and pliers to extract the rubber piece from the child’s throat, but their efforts could not reverse the lack of oxygen. “It was nothing that we could have done to save my baby boy,” Avita-Wilson said. “I don’t like to talk about him in past tense, but he isn’t here with us any longer.”
Grief, Compounding Stress, and Public Calls for Action
The tragedy has rippled deeply through the family, compounding physical and emotional trauma. Avita-Wilson is currently seven months pregnant. The acute stress and severe grief of losing her son have triggered contractions and premature dilation, details outlined on a GoFundMe page established to cover funeral expenses.
“He was a handsome little boy whose laugh was infectious, whose smile could light up any room, and who was loved by so many,” wrote Mary Lott, Avita-Wilson’s aunt, in the fundraiser description. “We ask that everyone continues to pray for Kisha, her girls and especially her unborn child.”
Amid her profound loss, Avita-Wilson is actively demanding systemic changes to how balloon products are manufactured and marketed, arguing that standard warning labels are insufficient for protecting small children.
“Balloons have warnings on them, but that is not enough. They should stop selling them. Stop marketing them to kids. Stop producing them.”
