Mother issues warning after her daughter, 7, died in 20 seconds when she suffocated inside her helium-filled birthday balloon

• Tiffany McIntyre, 32, from Texas, found Zahmira lifeless in her bedroom 

A mother has issued a warning after her seven-year-old daughter died in 20 seconds after she suffocated inside a helium-filled birthday balloon.

Tiffany McIntyre, 32, from Texas, discovered her daughter Zahmira lifeless in her bedroom with the balloon over her head. 

In September 2020 during the Coronavirus pandemic Zahmira was taking online school lessons. 

Tiffany told The Sun that after one of the classes where she had lost concentration she sent her daughter to her room to lie on the bunk bed.

She said that Zahmira had ADHD and kept leaving her seat and not focusing, so she told her to lie down while she cleaned the house.

Tiffany McIntyre (right), 32, from Texas, discovered her daughter Zahmira (left) lifeless in her bedroom with the balloon over her head

She said she put a movie on for Charleigh, her six-year-old younger sister, to watch in the lounge while she was cleaning her bedroom. 

Some 20 minutes later she realized she hadn’t heard Zahmira call for her, which she usually did, so she went to check up on her. 

Tiffany said saw Zahmira’s pink blanket bunched up around her daughter who was lying down.

When she came closer she could see she was flat on her back.

‘I could see that the number seven Mylar balloon was completely over her head,’ Tiffany told Inside Edition. ‘She wasn’t breathing.’ 

It had been attached to her bedpost after her celebrations.

‘I yanked the balloon off her head, and carried her down the ladder and took her into the living room and laid her on the floor, then called 911,’ Tiffany told The Sun.

‘I couldn’t get through at first, so I was hysterical and ran outside screaming for help.’

She said she then went back inside and tried to call 911 again, and managed to get through, before starting to perform CPR on her.

She said the paramedics arrived within minutes. 

They found a heartbeat and rushed Zahmira to hospital, where she was placed on life support. 

But the doctors told Tiffany that she wasn’t responding to tests, and it did not look hopeful. 

Zahmira sadly passed away after her brain had swelled too much. 

Tiffany said the doctors informed her that inhaling the helium had knocked her out ‘within seconds’ as if it had ‘put her to sleep and she never woke up from it’. 

Tiffany and Charleigh are heartbroken over the loss.  

Tiffany told The Sun: ‘Charleigh asks about her sister every day and says how much she misses her. It’s heartbreaking. And every time she sees a balloon she tells everyone that it hurt her sister. She and Zahmira did everything together, they were inseparable.’ 

Zahmira and her younger sister Charleigh

Tiffany said she has been diagnosed with severe depression after the loss and Charleigh is keeping her going. 

She now wants to raise awareness about the dangers of helium balloons.  

She said thousands of parents have been in touch and she would warn people not to leave their children alone with helium balloons. 

She described her daughter as a ‘fun-loving little girl’ who loved unicorns, hoopla and Barbies. 

She also noted that her sister asks about her on a daily basis and says she misses her greatly. 

Another mom, Channa Kelly, has also suffered from a similar tragedy.

She took a nap while her daughter Alexandra was playing with her birthday balloons. 

When she woke up she discovered her face-down in the living room.

‘I believe she cut the bottom and I believe that she put it over her head,’ Kelly told Inside Edition. 

‘I pulled the balloon off as fast as I could,’ Kelly said. ‘I was expecting her to wake up. I was expecting her to pop up.’ 

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