Star football player, 16, is left ‘unrecognizable’ with horrific disfiguring burns after attempting TikTok challenge that uses lighter and spray can to make homemade BLOWTORCH
- Mason Dark, 16, suffered third-degree burns after attempting a TikTok trend
- The football star was nearly killed in the stunt that comes with a warning
- He will be in the hospital for at least six months and undergo several surgeries
A North Carolina teenager was left ‘unrecognizable’ after suffering third-degree burns on 80 percent of his body while trying to complete a TikTok challenge that requires a spray paint can and lighter.
Football star Mason Dark, 16, was attempting the trend this past Sunday when he nearly lost his life.
The highly dangerous TikTok challenge involves using a lighter and to ignite the contents of a spray paint can.
Mason’s family recalled hearing a ‘boom’ at their Wake Forest home moments before they saw the teenager rush outside and jump into the lake with 75 percent of his body burned.
He was rushed to the hospital where he remains in the UNC Burn Center. The teenager’s mom, Holli Dark, told WRAL ‘he is unrecognizable.’
Mason Dark, 16, suffered third-degree burns after attempting a TikTok trend. Pictured: Mason
Mason was seen in a recent photo asleep on the hospital bed while wrapped in white bandages. The extent of his injuries were unknown until Thursday when he underwent ‘the first of many surgeries’
Mason was seen in a recent photo asleep on the hospital bed while wrapped in white bandages. The extent of his injuries were unknown until Thursday when he underwent ‘the first of many surgeries.’
‘[We] come to find out now from the surgery, that he’s got the third-degree burns… it’s like a T in his back and it was from him taking off his shirt, and then it got stuck or something,’ Holli said.
‘We did not find out until yesterday that it was actually 76 percent of his body.’
Holli described her son as outgoing and is in disbelief she doesn’t recognize him.
‘The way he looked when those kids saw him when he first came in, to what he looks like now, it’s 100 times different,’ she told the news outlet.
Mason is expected to recover in the burn center for about six months as the extent of his condition remains fully unknown. According to Holli, her son’s condition is at risk for progressing.
‘He jumped into a river to extinguish the flames. The risk of infection from the river water is high, on top of having 2nd and 3rd degree burns,’ she wrote on GoFundMe.
As of Friday night, more than $17,000 was raised to assist with the teenager’s medical bills and other essentials.
Mason is one of several teenagers who has attempted the risky TikTok challenge.
Immediately after being burned, he jumped into the river to cool the burns. He will be in the hospital for at least six months and undergo several surgeries. Pictured: Mason after the incident
A photo of the teenager showed him being transported to the hospital following the incident
Mason’s mom, Holli Dark (center right), described her son as outgoing and is in disbelief she doesn’t recognize him
Several videos posted on the social media platform showed the challenge in action.
The most common way to perform the quest is by applying spray paint to a paper and lighting a flame on top. The flame stays in tact for as long as the lighter is on.
One daring TikToker decided to take the challenge a step further and took a can of spray paint to a fire pit – creating a massive blaze.