Boy, 16, 'Unrecognizable' After Getting Badly Burned Doing Social Media Challenge, Mom Says: 'Not Worth It'
North Carolina teen Mason Dark "has a long road ahead of him," his mom said of her son, who was left with burns on 75% of his body
A North Carolina teen is "unrecognizable" after burning a majority of his body while participating in an alleged social media challenge, according to his mom.
Mason Dark, 16, was using a lighter and a can of spray paint to create a torch late last month, according to NBC affiliate WRAL-TV. After hearing a "big boom," his mom, Holli Dark, told the outlet that her son "came running out" and jumped into a nearby river to extinguish the fire.
The Heritage High School student was transported to UNC Burn Center in Chapel Hill for treatment, Holli said in a statement shared via a GoFundMe campaign started by Mason's grandmother, Heidi Simpson.
The teen suffered second and third-degree burns as a result of the accident, according to his mother's statement. About 75% of his body was burned.
Mason, who "is unrecognizable," is expected to remain at the Burn Center for at least six months while he recovers from his injuries, according to WRAL-TV.
The teen underwent "the first of many surgeries" on Apr. 26, where he received skin grafts as part of his recovery process, his mother said in her statement.
Holli also told ABC affiliate WTVD-TV that her son developed pneumonia within his first week at the hospital. Still, she said, "he's done remarkably well."
"Mason has a long road ahead of him," Holli said on the GoFundMe page. "Please pray for his recovery."
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Holli believes a social media trend led her son to try the dangerous experiment.
"[Kids are] constantly doing the different things," Holli told WTVD-TV. "It's like these kids just try anything these people do, they see it and they want to imitate it. They want to see how they can do it and what will happen."
Additionally, Holli expressed her concern about "challenges on TikTok" in an interview with WRAL-TV, adding, "I guess kids have been doing this [challenge] a long time."
PEOPLE cannot confirm that this challenge has recently circulated on TikTok. The social media company did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.
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Mason's mother is begging other parents to keep a watchful eye on their children and the content they consume, according to WTVD-TV.
"I want to let the parents know, you've got to be careful with these things," she told the outlet. "More and more things come out [online] and they want to try it."
Holli went on to encourage kids not to try experiments, especially dangerous ones, that they may come across on the internet.
"It's not worth it," she told WTVD-TV. "It takes one second for it to not go right for you that you could be in the situation. And not just this particular challenge, but all the dangerous risky stuff that the kids try."
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