Still Loving My Gabriel

Dr. Phil 'Deadly Teen Trends' Choking Game 2005

Choking Game Info
GASP ORGANIZATION LAUNCHES TO END THE DEADLY CHOKING GAME
J'aimerai toujours et ā jamais mon fils GABRIEL
Espaņol
Schools and Police Who Are Informing
Physicians Perspectives on the Choking Game
U.S.A. and Canada Working to Stop The Choking Game!
GASPinfo.com
Letter Written by Officer Scott Metheny
FRANCE: Association of Parents of Young Victims of Strangulation
Choking Game 'CINE Golden Eagle Award'
Faces of Victims: What if it was your child?
Victim Stats / Children
DoD: Department of Defense 'Safe Schools Handbook'
Homework Hotline : Parents Beware the Choking Game
Dr. Phil Show 'Deadly Teen Trends'
Deadly Game 'Geraldo at Large'
CNN: Mother missed signs of 'The Choking Game'
"Choking Game" Claims Life of One Californian Teenager
My Son
Guest Book For Gabriel Harry Mordecai
Catholic News and Views
The day this game killed my son
SaneMommy.Com TCG
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Asphyxiation
How many more kids will die before this becomes a priority concern?
Strangulation in children and preadolescents usually results from unsafe play!
Deadly Game
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Group E Mail for those of US who have lost a loved one to The Choking Game
Sarah's Notes

Samuel and I taped a segment with the Dr. Phil Show in September of 2005. It aired the same month and also in December of 2005. Thank you .. Dr. Phil....

 

A Mom in Mourning

Dr. Phil talks to the mother of a 13-year-old boy who made national headlines when he died playing the choking game. His mother still struggles with guilt and wonders how to move past the pain.

 


"My life has changed drastically," she says.

Sarah became aware of the deadliness of the choking game after her 13-year-old son Gabriel hanged himself in an attempt to get high. “My son is dead. I should have known the warning signs,” she laments.

Samuel, Gabriel’s twin brother, explains his involvement in the game. “We played the game a couple times a day. When my mom first found out, she went psycho: ‘I can’t believe you did this.’ I stopped, but Gabe got addicted.”

“I didn’t realize how out of control it was,” Sarah admits. The night of her son’s death, she went into his bedroom and made a startling discovery. “I could hear Samuel saying his brother’s name, and I knew something was wrong. I ran to the room and my child [Gabriel] was unconscious with a rope around his neck. Samuel was standing behind his brother trying to hold his brother up, and I could see a rope from the top of the bunk bed.”

 

Sarah still thinks she should have done more to save her son’s life. “I have so much guilt. I was five feet from my boy when he died,” she mourns. “It kills me to see Samuel without his brother. You don’t realize how much they lean on each other.”

She struggles to move on, but feels stuck in a rut. “Our life has changed drastically. I’m barely hanging on by a thread. I’ve lost a lot of weight. I can’t sleep. I can’t turn the lights off, especially in their bedroom,” she says. Because she feels an urgency to warn other parents about this dangerous game, she says she neglects her other son. “Samuel’s on the sidelines. I’m just not available. He’s resentful of me, spending so much time researching this and contacting people, he needs his mom back.”


Samuel doesn’t know how to reconnect. “My mom is unavailable. It’s like trying to talk to a semi-conscious person,” he explains.

Turning to Dr. Phil for help, Sarah says, “Our relationship is in trouble. I’ve already sacrificed one. How could I possibly sacrifice another?”

Sarah needs to find more constructive ways of honoring her son’s memory. “You can’t do that if you focus on the event and cause and day and moment of his death. You can do it, if you focus on the process of his life,” Dr. Phil stresses. “If he looks down on you now, I don’t want him to see pain and disconnection and loneliness, and say, ‘That’s my legacy. That’s what I’ve left behind’ … I want him to see you celebrating your life, celebrating his life, celebrating [Samuel’s] life. It is not a betrayal. You’ll never forget him … It’s not about that. It’s about saying, ‘You will always be in my mind and my heart, but I am not going to lose another one.’ Because [Samuel] will look for a soft place to fall. He will look for a way to find escape from that loneliness. Don’t set him up for another bad decision. Take that wall down and reach out to that boy, starting right now.”

Dr. Phil praises Samuel’s courage. “You need to speak up for yourself and you’ve done that, and she needed to hear this. I’m proud of you for being here. I know you’re in a tough, tough, tough spot,” he says.

 

So that Sarah and Samuel can bond, he surprises them with a four-day, three-night stay at Boulder’s Resort and Golden Door Spa in Arizona. Sidestep.com will provide airfare, hotel and transportation for them.

“Let me say that however long we talk here, you’re not ever going to hear me say, ‘I know how you feel.’ That would be presumptuous and foolish of me to say, and I’m not going to say that,” Dr. Phil assures Sarah. “I know you’ve been very committed to raising the awareness about this to try to save some lives, which is one of the reasons that we asked you to be here, so we could talk about this, and give you this platform to honor that young man’s life.”

Shocking Teen Trends

Imagine if your child used suffocating or choking in order to get high. It's a dangerous trend that's going across America, with deadly repercussions.

A Teen in Trouble

Fourteen-year-old Alyssa choked right in front of her mother, Robin, who fears the trend could have a tragic outcome if she doesn't stop.


Is the thrill of the game worth risking her life?


A Scary Addiction

Thirteen-year-old Logan's habit looks innocent on the surface, but his mom fears that it's affecting him in the worst way.

"My son is wasting his life away," she says.

Dr. Phil's Tip of the Day
 

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