Who is Destini Crane? TikTok fire challenge goes wrong as Oregon girl, 13, severely burned
PORTLAND, OREGON: A 13-year-old Oregon girl has been in the hospital for over two weeks after suffering third-degree burns while apparently attempting to imitate a video she saw on social media. The family is speaking out about the incident, so as to help prevent it from happening to someone else.
Destini Crane of Portland, Oregon, was severely burned on her neck and right arm, requiring three skin-grafting surgeries, according to her family, while attempting to copy a video on the popular video app, TikTok. Andrea, her sister, told ABC News that the incident occurred on May 13 in their home's bathroom. Crane is currently unable to communicate with them about what has occurred. But this is not the first time that a TikTok challenge has gone horribly wrong. In February, a Louisiana man was in ER after he glued Solo Cup to his face.
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Last August, a teenager died in Oklahoma City after she reportedly took a fatal amount of Benadryl for TikTok's ‘Benadryl challenge’. In February this year, a girl died from covering her nose and mouth with sticky tape as part of trend called 'Blackout challenge'. More recently in April, a TikTok social media trend called #chapstickchallenge was allegedly propagating suicidal ideation among teenagers.
An Oregon mother says her daughter, Destini Crane, is fighting for her life after trying to recreate a fire challenge she saw on TikTok. -> https://t.co/y7lXq4Kb8K
— wtoc11 (@WTOC11) May 29, 2021
Who is Destini Crane?
Destini Crane is a seventh-grader who "lived for TikToks," her mother said, according to ABC News. She was attempting to replicate a TikTok video in which someone draws a shape on a mirror with a flammable liquid and then sets it on fire.
Crane's sister Andrea is a student at Western Oregon University in Monmouth, who has returned home to assist with the care of her younger sister, who enjoys skateboarding and playing the online game Roblox. "We've always been our unit," she said. "Being in Monmouth just wasn't an option for me, with wanting to be here and my family needing me."
TikTok and their weird, racist algorithm prioritizes ridiculous challenges and stunts over quality, thoughtful content.
— Snarky Black Gurl (@snarkyblackgurl) May 30, 2021
A fire challenge making the rounds on TikTok, on the news feed of every impressionable child with a smart phone and time on their hands.https://t.co/8agUqUnA6I
What happened to the teen?
Desitni Crane brought a candle, lighter, and bottle of rubbing alcohol into the bathroom, which, according to her sister, exploded in the poorly ventilated space, setting her and other items on fire. Crane's phone was still recording video when her mother, Kimberly, retrieved it, according to ABC News. "I was in the living room talking with my mom, and I heard her scream my name," Andrea Crane said to the news outlet. "So I went and opened the bathroom door and everything was on fire. Destini was on fire. Things in the bathroom were on fire."
Kimberly said she took her daughter outside and pulled her daughter's burning shirt off. 911 had been dialed by a neighbor. Crane has been in the intensive care unit since then, and her family is hopeful that she will be transferred to the burn unit for further treatment soon. Her sister estimates that she will need several more months to recover, including inpatient rehab to regain use of her arm and mobility in her neck, shoulders and fingers.
"Because of the burns she's going to have limited mobility," Andrea Crane said. "That is just going to be a lifelong thing, of her doing physical therapy to keep her mobility," she said adding that her sister does not yet fully understand what has happened to her. "I know that when she wakes up and fully understands, she's probably going to freak out," her mother said. "But honestly I think that she's strong enough to get through it."
"I just wasn't present with her," Andrea said. "When she showed me TikToks and when she showed me what she was doing, I would be like, 'Oh I'm busy,' or, 'I'm doing schoolwork.'"
"It's really important to be present with your children because we can monitor them, we have parental controls, we can do all that all we want, but things slip through," she said. "And so it's really important to be present with your children and have that transparency of, 'Hey what are you into what? What are you doing right now?'", she added.
