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Mother warns of balloon dangers after toddler dies days before first birthday

Nick Martinez
Nick Martinez
Nick Martinez
Reporter · Chicago, IL

Nick Martinez is a public health reporter who earned his Master’s in Public Health from the University of Chicago. Having previously worked with ProPublica, he focuses on health equity issues affecting the Chicago community.

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Reporter · Friday, October 30, 2026 at 4:22 PM · 1 min read
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Mother warns of balloon dangers after toddler dies days before first birthday — Highland Park Health news

The mother of a toddler is sharing her heartbreaking story so other families don’t have to experience a similar tragedy. On Oct. 24th, Kisha Avita-Wilson said she was with her family at a trunk-or-treat event in Kenosha, where her older children received balloon animals. “We were keeping the balloons away from Baby Don, and one of the balloons came undone,” said Avita-Wilson. “He grabbed it, and he bit it and when he bit it, it shot the tied-up part into the bottom of his esophagus. I grabbed him immediately out of his car seat. I performed CPR … I stuck my fingers down his throat. The person that I was with tried to do the same things also, and he turned blue immediately and went into cardiac arrest.” Avita-Wilson said they prayed that Baby Don would survive, but he died two days before his first birthday. “The ambulance came so fast and stuck the tube down his throat and the pliers down his throat. It was nothing that we could have done to save my baby boy, she said.

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