Girl, 16, Found Dead On Her Bedroom Floor With Deodorant Can In Hand As Her Mom Warns Of ‘Chroming’

Brooke Ryan was only 16 when she died of a heart attack. Her body was found lying lifeless by her own mother, Anne Ryan, inside her bedroom. The Australian teen had a can of deodorant in her hand when she was found in her home in Broken Hill, New South Wales.

An aspiring athlete, her death serves as a warning for chroming, an addicting, harmful activity known as “chroming.”

In the wake of her death, Anne took the time on Mother’s Day to warn parents about the danger of the rising trend, following an Australian teacher’s calling out to restrict the sales of deodorant cans. Sniffing has become a favorite among youngsters due to the easiness and affordability of the products.

Anne spoke with the Sydney Morning Herald, “I wake up, I think of her, I go to sleep and think of her… Every day is a nightmare. She was a beautiful girl with a heart of gold, who’s just so sorely missed, and would be absolutely devastated to know the negative impact she’s had on so many people from her death.”

Brooke was known as an aspiring athlete, and the local  Australian Football League had paid tribute to her.

She’s also known to be a popular girl in the North Football Club and academy squad for the Greater Western Sydney Giants Football Club, according to AFL Broken Hill. The girl had many dreams, including becoming a beautician or a lawyer when she grew up.

Anne’s push to raise awareness of the danger of sniffing is also backed by the rising cases that got supermarkets around the Queensland town of Mt. Isa to lock their aerosol cans. The number of cases had risen from around 50 in 2017 to 107 in 2020.

Among these calls, half of them were from parents whose children were as young as seven years old. Around 20% of the patients were between 12-18 years old.