On May 27, 2025, 19-year-old Ryan Satterthwaite died in a hospital on Monday after a game called “Run it Straight.” “Run it Straight” has taken off as a trend online across New Zealand and Australia, where participants run toward each other head-on, with no protective gear. Videos on TikTok and Instagram show crowds assembled to watch this challenge. The Runit Championship took place in Auckland, New Zealand, this month, after previously being held in Australia in March, where league organizers rewarded winners with a prize of $13,000 and promised $20,000 the following month.

@mafalupeamanu0♬ original sound – Nrlreno

Although the game has been played for a long time in these countries, Ryan’s death is a reminder that viral challenges are no longer stunts to garner public attention; they are real, and many pose serious neurological threats.

Survivors of traumatic brain injuries can unfortunately also undergo cognitive and emotional impairments, like memory loss, mood disorders, and personality changes.

While Ryan’s death was physically violent, other challenges in the past also brought devastation, like the “Blackout Challenge” in 2021, which encouraged users to restrict breathing for as long as they could. The parents of two girls, Lalani Erika Renee Walton (8) and Arriani Jaileen Arroyo (9), sued TikTok, claiming that the dangerous algorithms that appeared on their children’s phones were to blame. Attorneys of Sowerby & Moustakis Law PLLC (SMVLC) said that “TikTok prioritized greater corporate profits over the health and safety of its users and, specifically, over the health and safety of vulnerable children TikTok knew or should have known were actively using its social media product.”

Sadly, these types of tragedies did not stop there… On Sunday, April 13, 2025, 8-year-old Sarah Raíssa Pereira de Castro in Brazil was admitted to a hospital after inhaling the gas from a spray deodorant. This decision was said to have been from a trend called “#chroming” or “#dusting,” known to others as “huffing.” Unfortunately, Sarah was the victim of cardiorespiratory arrest, where the medical team eventually confirmed her brain death.

Less than 2 months later, on June 1, 2025, 19-year-old Renna O’Rourke passed away from inhaling computer dusting spray, where she went into cardiac arrest and spent several days in the ICU, eventually being declared brain dead. “It seems that it’s a silent epidemic amongst our youth… Renna would want to help people and have people learn from this,” says her mother, Dana O’Rourke.

@truthmatters709 RIP Renna Kay O’Rourke 19 “TEMPE, Ariz. — The parents of a 19-year-old Tempe woman are warning other parents of a dangerous trend after their daughter died from inhaling chemicals from an aerosol can.” 12 News – Arizona #gonetoosoon #stophuffing #stopdusting #awareness ♬ original sound – TeenCrime&Loss

Whether or not these actions were part of official trends or named challenges, they reflect something deeper about how much easier dangerous behavior labeled as a “challenge” or “hack” can reach vulnerable audiences and have irreversible consequences, especially when the brain is involved. The stakes are too high to take a chance in an age where one’s curiosity can change a young life forever.