A new TikTok trend could be a risk to kids as parents have been warned to be cautious of their children carrying it out.

Kids around the world could be at risk, as 12-year-old Sophie-Rose Owen was said to be ‘scarred for life’ after undertaking the viral trend, her mum Emma-Louise revealed.

The 34-year-old mother from Cardiff said that she felt like a ‘terrible parent’ after she rushed her daughter to hospital with injuries following the trend.

She suffered horror burns and required treatment. (Kennedy News and Media)

Sophie-Rose tried to take part in a popular TikTok trend by attempting to make a treat by heating sugar and water in a microwave, then coating fruit in the sticky substance to make it crunchy as a sweet snack.

Apparently, Sophie filled a jug with sugar and water and heated it in the microwave for two minutes, as instructed.

But when she tried to take it out, the boiling syrup mixture burned through the bottom of the jug, which then dripped across her hands and feet, causing the girl to scream out in agony.

Her mother ran downstairs to the horror scene and was shocked to see what was going on.

Emma-Louise stated: “There was a trail of syrup on the floor in the kitchen. She was screaming ‘burn, burn, burn’ and I said ‘put your hand in cold water’.

“Then a massive blister formed on her foot instantly.”

The mother said that she felt ‘terrible’, as they rushed her to a nearby hospital, as she later explained: “Sophie had seen this new trend on TikTok – all her friends were doing it.

“I’d seen it on social media, celebrities had been doing it and it looked good.”

Emma explained that she didn’t allow her daughter to use the oven, which was what most people were doing, but allowed her to use the microwave after she was shown a video of it being done in one.

She was on the phone at the time, and so relented and simply told Sophie to ‘be careful’, later admitting: “I didn’t understand the actual context of it and I do feel like a terrible parent.”

The 12-year-old suffered several burns across her body as the jug had a hole burnt through the bottom. (Kennedy News and Media)

The mother revealed that her husband’s ‘face dropped’ after he ran downstairs to discover the stunt gone wrong.

Emma said: “My husband came downstairs and I told him she’d done this trend with sugar water and his face just dropped. He said this is what they use in prisons to scar people.”

Shockingly, he was right – the method is known as a ‘prison napalm’, a technique used as a weapon by prisoners as the liquid sticks to the skin and causes severe burns.

The mother called for TikTok to start including disclaimers in trending videos to warn parents about how dangerous they can be.

“Kids just absorb everything from online. This could’ve been so much worse,

“I wanted to let other parents know the dangers of this. I don’t want this happening to another person’s child,” she concluded.

TikTok explained to LADbible that candied fruit recipes have existed on the internet long before the app existed, citing cooking shows and recipes from Tesco, BBC and AllRecipes, and said that it doesn’t mean that injuries sustained are these organisations’ responsibilities.

While TikTok welcomes cooking and recipe videos, they also re-iterated that the app is strictly a 13+ platform, even requiring people to fill in their complete date of birth to authenticate their account.

They remind users that if someone that makes an account and doesn’t meet the age requirement, they will be suspended from creating another account with a different date of birth.

A US mum has shared a major warning about child safety in swimming pools after her daughter ‘started drowning’ in her bed.

When it comes to pool safety, most parents will know the importance of keeping an eye on their children will they’re in the water. However, there is a rare condition that can occur hours after you’ve left the pool.

This nightmare situation is something that Florida based mum-of-three Annie Gallagher experienced after taking her children to a local pool.

Annie had taken her children out for a day at the pool when the terrifying incident occurred (Jam Press)

Recalling the terrifying incident on social media, Annie revealed how her daughter – who was five-years-old at the time – began to experience symptoms of a near drowning event after going swimming.

Annie and her children had been enjoying the warm weather with a day at the pool when her daughter started coughing after swallowing swimming pool water.

“It happened in the blink of an eye – we were at the pool and she jumped in from the edge,” Annie recalled, adding that her daughter has always been a ‘strong swimmer’.

“She inhaled water as she jumped in, but she seemed okay and wanted to go back to playing, which she did.”

Despite the coughing, her daughter had continued playing at the pool. It wouldn’t be until later in the evening that her daughter began to complain about feeling unwell after bedtime.

“My first reaction was to send her back to her room for a good night’s sleep because I was still up cleaning the house for the next day,” Annie said. “But something in my gut said ‘Don’t do it.'”

Annie’s daughter had begun feel unwell later in the evening (Jam Press)

She then said that she’d remembered reading an article online about dry drowning years ago and, despite reassurances from friends, decided to take her daughter to get checked out.

Annie’s worst fears would come true in the emergency room, where doctors told her the situation could have been ‘catastrophic’ if she hadn’t received medical attention.

Initially believing her daughter was suffering from symptoms of dry drowning, Annie would later learn her daughter had a condition known as inhalation pneumonia.

What is inhalation pneumonia?

Inhalation, or aspiration pneumonia is an infection which occurs after accidentally inhaling saliva, foreign objects and liquids into the lungs.

This causes the air sacs in the lungs to fill up with fluid and can be deadly if left untreated.

Inhalation pneumonia differs from conditions such as dry or secondary drowning, which refers to spasms of the vocal chords after inhaling water, making breathing impossible.

The mum-of-three urged parents to trust their gut (Jam Press)

Explaining the seriousness of her daughter’s condition, Annie said: “It only takes a teaspoon of water to cause inhalation pneumonia, which she had. She had begun to slowly suffocate as she drowned in her own fluids that were flooding her lungs. “Within hours, we were transferred to a children’s hospital.”

Annie went on to add that the week had felt like a ‘fever dream’ to her as doctors scrambled to find a medication which her daughter responded to. After finding a treatment that worked, doctors were able to discharge Annie’s daughter after seven days in hospital.

Explaining why she’d chosen to share the story seven years later, Annie said: “I want parents to know these things happen. We can’t put our kids in a bubble, unfortunately, but we have to keep living.

“More than anything, though, as a parent, trust your instincts,” she added.

“Mine saved my daughter’s life.”

The NHS has launched a new ‘act fast’ campaign to warn Brits about a horrific medical condition that kills two million brain cells every minute.

It is the latest health advice from the UK health service this autumn, following a cases spike for a brutal winter illness as well as the resurgence of a Victorian disease that leaves you with ‘tiny red dots’ on your skin.

Away from warning us about diseases that are spreading, top officials in the NHS are this week (4 November) launching a new campaign to warn Brits about spotting the first symptoms of the catastrophic health condition that can kill parts of your brain within minutes.

We are talking about a stroke, which can affect anyone of any age, according to the Stroke Association charity.

Now, tens of thousands of people who have a stroke could be diagnosed and treated sooner after new data found that the average time between onset of first symptoms and a 999 call being made was nearly an hour and a half.

New NHS data shows that in 2023/24, the average time between first suffering symptoms of a stroke and calling 999 for 41,327 patients was 88 minutes. That means up to 1.76 billion brain cells could have been lost per person in that time frame, potentially causing untold damage.

England’s top doctor has now urged the public to call 999 even if the first sign of stroke doesn’t seem like an emergency, and said immediate action at the first sign of a stroke ‘could help save and protect many more lives’.

It is after analysis showed that two thirds of respondents (64 percent) said they would not call 999 as their first course of action if they noticed someone was suddenly struggling to smile.

A stroke can devastate you within minutes (Getty Stock Images)

The NHS campaign launches with a brand new TV advert showing example symptoms; a man recognising his partner is struggling to smile while watching TV (face), a decorator suddenly unable to lift their paint roller (arm), and a grandmother struggling to read their grandchild a bedtime story (speech).

It will run across TV, TV on demand and radio in England until mid-December.

Dr David Hargroves, NHS national clinical director for stroke and consultant stroke physician, said: “When someone has a stroke, it’s estimated they may lose around two million brain cells a minute, which is why rapid diagnosis and treatment is critical.

“The first sign of a stroke might not seem like much, but face or arm or speech, at the first sign it’s time to call 999.”

Acting quickly is the most important thing if you or someone around you suffers a stroke (Getty Stock Images)

He added: “Thanks to greater awareness of the symptoms and advances in NHS care, more people are now surviving a stroke than ever before, but there is much more to do help save lives and reduce the long-term impact of strokes.

“Acting FAST remains vital – whether it is a friend, loved one or even a passer-by, dialling 999 quickly saves lives.”

Juliet Bouverie OBE, CEO of the Stroke Association, said: “Over 88,000 people survive a stroke every year in the UK, but surviving a stroke is just the start of a long and traumatic battle to finding their way back to life.

“Mums, dads, grandparents, young people, even children can be stroke survivors, and the impact of stroke on them and their loved ones can be catastrophic.”

Recovery from a stroke varies from patient to patient (Getty Stock Images)

Bouverie added: “This new NHS campaign is so important to help raise awareness that stroke is always a medical emergency. If you spot any of the three common signs of a stroke in someone, the first thing you should do is call 999.

“The quicker many stroke treatments are given, the better.

“As we say, ‘time is brain’, so it’s important to recognise any of the signs of a stroke and act immediately. Acting FAST is vital for stroke survival and to help improve the journey to recovery.”

A mother has sent an urgent warning to gym-goers after she was left paralysed from carrying out a routine gym exercise.

Henrietta Paxton is a PE teacher from Salisbury, Wiltshire and ended up with life-altering injuries after an accident while working out, vowing to spread a message of warning to fellow exercise nuts.

The 40-year-old was in the gym when she was crushed by a weight, and following MRI and CT scans at Southampton General Hospital, she was told by health professionals that she had broken and dislocated parts of her spine, suffering a complete spinal cord injury, paralysing her from the waist down.

Henrietta has been left with a life-changing condition (Kennedy News and Media)

Henrietta was in the middle of a set of squats when the barbell slipped backwards. When she readjusted to bring it back to her shoulders, she overcorrected and knocked herself forwards, getting crushed under the 120kg weight.

‘That was probably the most terrifying point of my entire life’

She was told it’s rare for people to regain feeling in the spine after this type of injury, with the mum-of-two undergoing a procedure the following day to bolt five of her vertebrae together to stabilise her spine.

But ultimately, she has not been able to get around her own home so she has launched a JustGiving page to help and raise money to convert her three-story house, which has garnered £230,000 in donations.

Reflecting on the incident, she said: “It was terrifying. That was probably the most terrifying point of my entire life – that moment there when I knew what was happening, and there was nothing I could do to stop it as well, so it was awful,

“It was a massive thud. A huge thud. That’s the sensation I felt in my back as it went.”

She admitted: “I think deep down I knew. I heard it, I obviously heard it go and felt my back break and people around me were obviously trying to keep me calm and saying things would be alright but I knew what I had done straight away.”

The mum-of-two is paralysed from the waist down (Kennedy News and Media)

Saying that the pain was ‘indescribable’, she admitted she should have been using safety bars, and that she used to until joining this specific gym, something that she has urged people to do.

“This gym don’t have any [squat safety bars] and it just became the norm not to use them but looking back, it’s just a ridiculous idea to squat without them and I would say to anyone ever now just don’t squat without safety bars.

“The surgery wasn’t what worried me as much as just the damage I’d done to my spinal cord which they can’t do anything about that. The surgery is just to fix the bone,” she explained.

She spent six weeks in hospital after the incident on 29 May this year, before being moved to the Spinal Treatment Centre in Salisbury, where she is currently receiving treatment.

‘I’ve got so much stuff still to do with my life’

Henrietta is also determined to regain movement in her legs despite doctors’ doubts, using a standing frame everyday to maintain strength in her lower body.

“I’ve got so much stuff still to do with my life, I’m not going to let this take hold and reduce the quality of my life, let alone the quality of my family’s life. That’s what kind of gets me up every day and keeps me going,

“On the whole you’ve just got to get on with it because life goes on and it’ll go on with or without you so I’d rather be involved,” she said about pursuing new sports such as wheelchair rugby.

The PE teacher has been working hard on rehab (Kennedy News and Media)

Revealing that she needs a platform lift outside to get up the stairs as well as a floor lift fitted inside so she can go between floors and a new adapted bathroom, Henrietta hopes that the work will be done in the next six weeks before she is discharged.

Speaking about her goals for her home, she added: “It’s a big target but I’m feeling hopeful.

“We know it’s a lot, we don’t get any grants to make the changes to our house, nothing at all. So we have to pay for all of that ourselves as well as any further rehab,” she admitted.

“It’s a three-storey townhouse, which is just ridiculous. You couldn’t have picked a more unsuitable house for a wheelchair.

“Because my long term goal is to stand again and to walk, if I want to chase that goal then I have to fund private rehab,” Henrietta highlighted.