Can a fun science experiment really turn into a nightmare? In a shocking incident, 12-year-old Caden Ballard learned the hard way that some TikTok trends can be deadly. While scrolling through videos with his older brother, they stumbled upon a popular clip demonstrating how to create a fire effect in a bottle using rubbing alcohol.

“You basically take some rubbing alcohol and you put it into a bottle, and then you light it on fire, and the fire shoots up the bottle. I did that. My brother and I did that, and it was cool,” Caden recounted during an interview with KTAB. Sounds innocent enough, right? But what started as a harmless experiment quickly spiraled into a horrifying accident.

As they attempted to clean up after their little science show, things took a turn. Caden explained, “It looked like the fire had gone out. So, my brother grabbed the bottle and said, ‘here, throw it away.’ So, I grabbed it to throw it in the trash can, and my shirt was on fire.” The rubbing alcohol they used was isopropyl, which burns with an invisible flame, making it easy to underestimate the danger.

In a terrifying moment, Caden’s older brother sprang into action, remembering the age-old advice to stop, drop, and roll. He quickly helped remove Caden’s burning shirt, and they called for emergency services. A friend nearby heard their frantic call and alerted their mother, Christina Ballard, who was shocked to find Caden covered in second and third-degree burns.

“When I walked up to the porch, he was just face, chest, arms, stomach covered in burns. It looked like his skin had been melted away,” Christina described, her voice filled with disbelief. She added, “They like to listen to the story times on TikTok, you know, the Reddit stories. So I never expected things to go the way they went.”

Caden was rushed to Parkland hospital, facing numerous surgeries before being transferred to a specialized burn unit in Galveston. His family is bracing for a long road of recovery, which will include intensive care and therapy to heal his wounds.

Gratitude fills Christina's heart towards her older son for his quick thinking. “I don’t know how you were brave enough to reach into the flames and pull the shirt off of your brother. But I thank God every single day that you were brave enough to do that,” she said. Now, she’s on a mission to warn other parents about the potential dangers lurking behind seemingly innocent social media challenges.

“Just tell your kids because you never know when something they see online could end up putting them in the hospital or worse. We got very lucky; unfortunately, it’s bad, but Caden and I are very lucky that it wasn’t a lot worse,” Christina cautioned. To help cover the mounting medical expenses, Caden’s family has set up a GoFundMe, seeking support from the community.