A Wisconsin mother whose 11-month-old son died after choking on a balloon animal piece at a Halloween party is calling for balloons to be pulled from store shelves entirely.
Kisha Avita-Wilson, who is seven months pregnant, said Chicago that her son Don’Vayaire Avita-Mays — known to family as “Baby Don” — died on Oct. 24, just two days before he would have turned one. The tragedy unfolded at a Halloween gathering where the family had been working to keep balloons away from the infant.
“We were keeping the balloons away from Baby Don, and one of the balloons came undone,” Avita-Wilson told the outlet.
“He grabbed it, and he bit it, and when he bit it, it shot the tied-up part into the bottom of his esophagus,” she recounted.
Avita-Wilson said she reacted instantly, pulling her son from his car seat and attempting to clear his airway herself.
“I grabbed him immediately out of his car seat. I performed CPR … I stuck my fingers down his throat,” she continued.
Another adult at the scene attempted similar lifesaving measures, but the baby’s condition deteriorated with devastating speed.
“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.
First responders arrived and used a tube and pliers in an attempt to remove the rubber fragment from the infant’s throat. Their efforts failed to save him.
“It was nothing that we could have done to save my baby boy,” Avita-Wilson said.
The grief has taken a severe physical toll on the expectant mother. A GoFundMe page established for funeral expenses states that Avita-Wilson has suffered contractions and premature dilation brought on by the stress of her loss.
“He was a handsome little boy whose laugh was infectious, whose smile could light up any room, and who was loved by so many,” Avita-Wilson’s aunt, Mary Lott, wrote in the GoFundMe description.
“We ask that everyone continues to pray for Kisha, her girls and especially her unborn child,” Lott continued.
Avita-Wilson has channeled her grief into advocacy, demanding stronger action on balloon safety beyond existing product warnings.
“Balloons have warnings on them, but that is not enough,” she said.
“They should stop selling them. Stop marketing them to kids. Stop producing them.”
The mother’s call joins a longstanding public health conversation about balloon-related child deaths. The products carry suffocation warnings and are labeled as hazardous for children under eight, yet remain common fixtures at children’s celebrations. Avita-Wilson’s push for an outright production ban represents a more aggressive stance than typical consumer-safety campaigns.
“I don’t like to talk about him in past tense, but he isn’t here with us any longer,” Avita-Wilson said.