Microwaved squishy toy explodes onto boy's face and chest amid viral trend, causing horrific burns

An Alabama teenager and his family are warning about the dangers of a viral social media trend after he suffered third-degree burns when a microwaved sensory toy exploded.

Eli Blackmon, now 13, was 11 when he saw videos on TikTok showing people putting NeeDoh squishy toys in the microwave in order to soften them.

The NeeDoh, a sensory toy similar to a stress ball, is described on the company’s website as a "gratifying super soft, super stretchy dough filled groovy glob."

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"I thought it was harmless because an adult tried it and nothing happened," he told Fox News Digital this week.

"When I took it out, my older sister held it for a few minutes, then I was playing with it. As soon as I squeezed it, it burst and the hot gel exploded onto my neck, chest and hands."

The hot gel caused third-degree burns on the boy’s neck and chest.

"At first I was just feeling frantic because I wasn’t sure what was going on because he was just screaming and not communicating," the teen’s mother, Fallon Blackmon, told Fox News Digital.

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"My husband is a fire medic and I work in emergency call taking, so I had a little knowledge of how serious it was. That obviously didn’t keep me from panicking on the inside."

She was not aware of this trend before her child's injury, she said.

"If I was aware, we would have had a conversation about not doing it."

Eli Blackmon recalled feeling extreme pain after the injury.

"I thought I was going to die. I kept telling my parents, ‘I don’t want to die, I’m sorry,’ and I that I loved them."

Blackmon was transported by ambulance to the emergency department at the local children’s hospital, and was later sent to the burn unit for wound care and debridement.

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"With how severe the burn was, they would typically recommend skin grafts, but they wouldn’t consider it for him because of the risks to his airway," his mother said.

Blackmon had weekly visits with the burn unit for four months, during which the doctors scraped off dead skin and performed wound care.

"This was done with no pain meds or numbing, so all his follow-up appointments were very painful," Fallon Blackmon said.

"Once the wound started to heal and the scarring began, they had to do chemical burns because he was developing granulation tissue."

The teen also developed a rash from the bandages, which quickly turned into a staph infection.

"Another issue was that the burn was pulling fluids from his body, and this caused severe lower GI issues for months," his mother said.

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Blackmon, who is a jiu-jitsu athlete, missed months of training and competing due to the injury. The family also faced thousands of dollars worth of hospital bills, doctor bills and wound care supplies over the four-month care period.

Now, the teen and his mother aim to help prevent other families from going through the same ordeal.

"If you purchase these types of toys, please just mention this trend and not to do it," she urged parents. "Even if they don’t have social media, kids in school are hearing it from other kids."

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Today, Blackmon attends to his scar each day so that it doesn’t cause any issues with neck mobility.

"I have to do stretches and moisturize and massage it daily," he said.

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"It hasn’t really changed my confidence because all my friends and family are very supportive and tell me my scar is cool."

To other kids who may be thinking about participating in this social media trend, Blackmon’s advice is simple: "Don’t do it! It’s stupid! It causes so much pain and other problems."

"Actually, just don’t do any trends on TikTok, even if you think they are harmless," he added. "Talk to your parents."

Blackmon’s mother agreed, noting that sharing the story and receiving negative criticism from adults online would be worth preventing another child from being "scarred for life" and experiencing something so traumatic.

A spokesperson for TikTok USDS Joint Venture previously shared with Fox News Digital that any content that "promotes dangerous behavior" and may lead to serious injury is considered a violation of the platform's Community Guidelines. The company claims that it immediately removes these videos when they are found.

Fox News Digital reached out to the manufacturer of NeeDoh requesting comment.

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Heart condition tied to Lindsey Graham's death can strike without warning — what to know

New details surrounding Sen. Lindsey Graham's sudden death have drawn attention to a cardiovascular emergency that can become fatal within minutes.

On Sunday, a statement released by Graham's office cited preliminary findings from the District of Columbia's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, identifying the cause of death as an aortic dissection due to arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

Authorities said Graham, 71, was transported to George Washington University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 10:23 p.m. Saturday. An autopsy was completed Sunday.

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"The death certificate will be PENDING until all the toxicological and microscopic testing are finalized, and at that point the death certificate will be updated to reflect the cause of death and appropriately classify the manner of death," the statement said.

Fox News Digital reached out to Graham's office requesting comment.

An aortic dissection is a life-threatening medical emergency in which a tear develops in the inner layer of the aorta — the body's largest artery, according to Mayo Clinic.

Blood rushes through the tear and causes the layers of the aortic wall to separate, which can disrupt blood flow to vital organs or lead to a fatal rupture if not treated immediately.

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"It occurs when the layers of the aorta come apart and the inner one tears," Fox News senior medical analyst Dr. Marc Siegel, who did not treat Graham, told Fox News Digital.

"It can come on in minutes or days and may be hard to recognize," he added, noting that while dissections can evolve over time, symptoms often appear suddenly.

Dr. Kenneth Perry, an emergency physician based in South Carolina, said the best way to visualize the condition is to think of the aorta as a hose.

"The wall of the hose has multiple layers to it, and if the layers separate, the water can no longer pass down the regular opening in the tube," Perry, who also was not involved in Graham's care, told Fox News Digital. "Often, this starts as a very small tear that keeps progressing because of the water pressure."

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"The same thing is happening in the aorta," he went on. "The small tear in the wall of the aorta continues to progress, usually from severely elevated blood pressure."

As the tear continues past the smaller arteries coming from the aorta, blood can no longer flow from the heart to the other organs.

"This causes the organs that need that blood to die from lack of oxygen," Perry said. "The only way to survive such a diagnosis is very early identification and strict blood pressure control with emergent operative management."

Aortic dissection is relatively rare, affecting an estimated three to four people per 100,000 each year, according to Cleveland Clinic.

In Graham's case, the preliminary findings cited arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease. This condition is most commonly associated with atherosclerosis, in which plaque builds up inside the arteries, causing them to harden and narrow.

Over time, this process can weaken the wall of the aorta, increasing the risk of an aortic dissection.

Arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease can develop over time and is driven by several factors, according to the American Heart Association and Mayo Clinic. Some of the groups at highest risk include the following.

Symptoms of an aortic dissection can come on suddenly and often mimic those of a heart attack or stroke, experts say.

Anyone experiencing any of the below warning signs should call 911 for immediate emergency medical care, according to Siegel and other health experts.

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"Aortic dissection is one of the diseases that emergency physicians think of often when someone presents with chest pain — specifically pain described as a tearing sensation, with elevated blood pressure," Perry told Fox News Digital.

"We often describe the aortic dissection patient as appearing to have a ‘kidney stone of the chest,’ — meaning they have severe pain and cannot get comfortable, similar to kidney stone patients."

Early diagnosis and treatment greatly improve the chances of survival for those who have suffered an aortic dissection.

Doctors typically diagnose an aortic dissection using imaging tests, including a CT scan, transesophageal echocardiogram (ultrasound), magnetic resonance angiography (MRI-based scan) and chest X-ray, per Mayo Clinic.

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The condition requires immediate medical treatment, which will depend on which part of the aorta is affected.

Type A dissections involve the ascending (upper) aorta near the heart, which typically require emergency surgery.

Type B dissections affect the descending (lower) aorta farther from the heart, according to Mayo Clinic. These may be treated with medications to lower blood pressure and heart rate, although some may also require surgery or a stent.

Those who survive the event will generally need lifelong blood pressure management and regular imaging to monitor the aorta, per the above source.

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"This condition has a high mortality rate," Siegel said.

According to the American Heart Association, an untreated acute aortic dissection is one of the deadliest cardiovascular emergencies.

For untreated dissections involving the ascending aorta, the risk of death increases by approximately 1% to 2% for every hour treatment is delayed after symptoms begin, according to the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association.

Without treatment, more than half of people with a Type A aortic dissection die within one month. About 20% of Type A patients will die in the hospital, compared to 10% for treated Type B dissections.

While not all aortic dissections can be prevented, people can reduce their risk by controlling certain lifestyle factors.

"You need to make sure your blood pressure is well-controlled, your cholesterol is low and that you are seen regularly by a doctor," Siegel advised.

Smokers should kick the habit, he said, as they are at a highly increased risk.

Maintaining a healthy weight and following treatment plans for underlying heart or vascular conditions can also reduce the risk, according to Mayo Clinic.

People with a family history of aortic disease or inherited connective tissue disorders should discuss screening with their healthcare provider, doctors advise.

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Terminally ill man marries longtime love in hospital as final wish comes true

A terminally ill man who chose to provide for his kids over spending money on a wedding has finally tied the knot with his fiancé – 20 years after he first proposed to her.

Dean Pennell, 63, met his partner Kay Beaman, 62, through their children 24 years ago in Basildon, Essex.

The couple held off on wedding plans in order to provide for their 10 children. 

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But after being told he had just weeks to live, Pennell — who has terminal cancer — finally married Beaman on June 18 at Colchester Hospital in Essex, England, news agency SWNS reported.

The new wife said, "I am absolutely elated. We have waited a long time, and it’s so special to be able to celebrate our marriage here, with our families."

She added to SWNS, "Dean proposed when we first got together — but with 10 children between us, money would not allow."

She added, "We were planning to get married this year, but with the situation as it was, we decided to bring the wedding forward."

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The couple were joined by their family and friends, including their 10 children and some of their 18 grandchildren.

The event was organized in less than a week by a variety of hospital staff members, SWNS noted.

Said Beaman, "It was very hard for Dean. He had been so excited in the lead-up to the wedding, and I would get a phone call from him at the hospital every morning telling me how many days there were to go until the wedding."

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She said that "when the day came, he was adamant, as difficult as it was, that he was going to stand up for as much as the ceremony as possible — and we had a lovely day."

She noted her new husband "was exhausted afterward. Dean is now back at home, and we are living life to suit us."

A former electroplater, Pennell added, "It was absolutely brilliant. The staff worked really hard to organize the wedding."

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Ward manager Lucy Everett said, "It has been a pleasure to be able to help Dean and Kay. It’s rare that we get to celebrate a wedding at Colchester Hospital — it’s a first for me," as SWNS reported.

The East Suffolk and North Essex Foundation Trust also presented the couple with a clock — displaying the exact time the happy couple said "I do" on their big day. 

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Learning another language may keep your brain younger, study suggests

Speaking two or more languages may help slow brain aging, according to new research.

The study, presented at the 2026 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies Forum, found that people who spoke multiple languages appeared to have younger brains than those who spoke only one language.

Researchers analyzed brain activity from hundreds of people in Spain's Basque region who spoke between one and four languages, including Spanish, Basque, French and English. They used artificial intelligence to estimate each participant's "brain age" based on patterns of brain connectivity.

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The researchers found that bilingual participants had brains that appeared about six years younger than those of monolingual participants. People who spoke three languages had brains that appeared about seven years younger, while those who spoke four languages had brains that appeared roughly 13 years younger.

The findings also suggested that people who learned a second language earlier in life and became highly fluent experienced greater benefits.

Dr. Tommy Wood, a neuroscientist, performance consultant and author of "The Stimulated Mind: Future-Proof Your Brain from Dementia and Stay Sharp at Any Age," said the findings support earlier research showing that speaking multiple languages may help protect cognitive function as people age.

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"Most of the evidence for the benefit of learning multiple languages comes from individuals who grew up bilingual or learned multiple languages in childhood," Wood, who was not involved in the research, told Fox News Digital.

He said adults who didn't grow up speaking more than one language should not assume it's too late to benefit.

"There's no clear cutoff in age where learning a second language would no longer be beneficial," Wood said.

Several randomized controlled trials involving older adults have found improvements in attention, working memory and executive function after just a few months of language learning, he said.

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Beyond improving cognitive function, Wood said learning a new language can also help people stay socially engaged and strengthen the brain's ability to absorb new information.

He encouraged adults not to be discouraged by making mistakes while learning.

"It's also important to lean into the process of being a beginner," Wood said.

"Making mistakes is one of the biggest drivers of neuroplasticity and learning," he said. "If you do choose to learn a new language, get stuck in, challenge yourself and embrace the occasional failure. You'll actually learn faster as a result."

The researchers acknowledged several limitations to the study.

While they accounted for factors such as age, sex and education, they said they could not rule out the influence of other factors, including lifestyle and social engagement, that may have affected the findings.

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The best time to talk to your parents about senior care — before it's too late

Most families wait to talk about senior care until an emergency hits, but experts say having those discussions early can lead to better outcomes and less conflict.

Tatyana Zlotsky, CEO of A Place for Mom in New York City, said 77% of the families she works with tell her they wish they’d acted sooner.

Planning before a crisis gives families more time to compare care options, understand costs and honor an older adult's wishes instead of making rushed decisions, the expert advised.

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"If you think about this being an extremely stressful, financially burdensome decision already, doing it under the duress of a medical emergency makes it 10 times worse," she told Fox News Digital. "And yet most families are still not taking action."

Family caregivers lose an average of $21,000 per year as they cut back on work to care for aging relatives, she noted. 

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Families generally tend to procrastinate because they suffer from caregiver burnout, according to Zlotsky, who specializes in providing support services and digital tools for finding local senior housing options.

"They're already dealing with so much, it's nearly impossible for them to predict the situation sooner," she added.

"It's a reconfiguration of a parent-child relationship ... the parent wants to maintain their independence ... the child becomes the one providing the care," Zlotsky went on. "And so the senior resists this at all costs ... and the adult child is not sure how to have the conversation."

The discussion shouldn't wait until a fall, hospitalization or other medical emergency, according to the expert.

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Zlotsky emphasized that cognitive decline often begins with subtle changes in executive functioning — not always dramatic memory loss. Adult children should pay attention to these signs during routine visits, as they may signal that it's time to talk about future care plans.

These may include, but are not limited to, any of the following, according to the expert.

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"Maybe Mom has made the same pot of coffee for the last 20 years," Zlotsky said as an example. "Now all of a sudden she doesn't drink coffee anymore ... the truth might be that it takes five steps to fill the coffee maker ... and her executive functioning skills are failing her."

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She encourages family members to look for those signs earlier, and to seek guidance from a professional.

"You can't be required as a caregiver to diagnose Mom or Dad," she said. "You really have to be able to get consultation."

When having the conversation, Zlotsky emphasized the importance of listening to the older adult’s preferences.

"Your parents do have opinions on how they want to be taken care of, and what that looks like and who does it," she said. "It's really about having the courage to start that conversation and engaging in it."

"If you can break through that ice and really get to the core of what they need and want, it can make the financial and emotional journey much easier."

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Last American to use an iron lung dies at 78 years old after childhood polio diagnosis

A 78-year-old Oklahoma woman who was diagnosed with polio as a child and was the last American to rely on an iron lung to live has died.

Martha Lillard found out she had the once-feared disease when she was 5 years old, which left her paralyzed from the neck down, and required her to use the machine to help her breathe while she slept.

Lillard contracted COVID-19 twice during the pandemic, which left her in the machine nearly 24 hours a day.

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"They told her she wasn't supposed to live past 20 years old," her younger sister, Cindy McVey, told The Associated Press on Friday. "She had the enthusiasm and the drive to continue living and make the best of her life."

Despite having polio, Lillard was able to go to school two hours a day as a child, and she had tutors the rest of the time. She also used an intercom phone system that allowed her to interact with her teachers and classmates from home.

Lillard was even able to take road trips as a child because of a custom trailer that could accommodate the iron lung and her father making sure their hotels had wide enough doors for the machine.

An iron lung is a negative-pressure ventilator that would help a patient with paralyzed lung muscles breathe.

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The disease once caused thousands of cases of paralysis in children during outbreaks each year in the first part of the 20th century before a vaccine became available in 1955.

By 1979, polio was considered eliminated in the U.S.

Later, Lillard was able to regain the use of her left arm and legs through therapy and was even able to drive for a time.

She lived independently for many years, even marrying earlier this year to a man from Egypt she corresponded with for two decades after he was able to obtain a visa.

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"They were really soul mates," McVey said. "He's extremely brokenhearted."

Lillard, who her sister said wrote poetry and volunteered with the Humane Society, had just 25% lung capacity before she was diagnosed with COVID.

She died of chronic pulmonary failure and post-polio syndrome, according to her death certificate.

Her sister added that it was related to the effects of long-haul COVID.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Major American city again takes top honors for worst possible travel reason

As people prepare to travel for summer vacation, a top pest-control company is revealing the U.S. cities where you’re likely to encounter bedbugs.

Bedbugs are small insects that feed on blood and live near humans or animals, favoring places we sleep or rest, such as beds, couches and nearby furniture. They can cause itchy bites, skin irritation, and in some cases, allergic reactions.

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Chicago once again topped the list of Orkin’s 2026 Bed Bug Cities List, retaining the pest control and extermination company’s number one ranking as America’s city where it performed the most bedbug treatments.

Orkin announced last year that the Windy City had held onto its spot as the most bedbug-infested city in the nation for the fifth consecutive year.

Los Angeles, Detroit, Cleveland and Indianapolis rounded out the top five this year. Popular tourist hot spots Tampa and Myrtle Beach experienced increased bedbug activity, Orkin reported.

"Many cities where bedbug activity has been the worst in the last year are also some of the country’s most popular travel destinations and are expected to welcome large numbers of visitors for major concerts, festivals and sporting events throughout the summer and beyond," Orkin announced in a press release.

Nashville and Oklahoma City each climbed 10 spots on this year’s list, the company said, while Youngstown, Omaha and Knoxville recorded some of the largest declines.

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According to Orkin, "These year-over-year changes highlight the persistent and evolving nature of bedbug activity across the nation."

The rankings are based on treatment data from metro areas where Orkin performed the most bedbug treatments from May 2025 to May 12, 2026, and includes both residential and commercial bedbug treatments.

A report by casino.ca released earlier this summer ranked Michigan as the state with the highest estimated risk of encountering bedbugs, followed by Ohio, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, Fox News Digital previously reported. Hawaii and Oregon ranked lowest on the list.

Warren, Michigan, topped the list of U.S. cities, with North Las Vegas, Nevada, and Madison, Wisconsin, also ranking among the biggest hot spots, according to the report.

The casino.ca analysis combined bedbug data from Orkin and Terminix with TripAdvisor hotel reviews, treatment records and social-media posts to estimate travelers' risk of encountering bedbugs.

While such reports "make for fun reads," Zachary DeVries, associate professor of urban entomology at the University of Kentucky, previously cautioned Fox News Digital against putting too much stock in them.

"The main problem I have with these [rankings] is they make it seem like urban areas have all the bedbug problems, but from some recent work we’ve done and anecdotal reports, we know bedbugs can show up anywhere — urban, suburban or rural," he said.

"In fact, while people are more packed together in urban areas and thus more likely to bump into bedbugs, those living in rural areas may have less access to good pest control services and thus may find it more difficult to get rid of bedbugs," he added.

Dini Miller, professor of urban pest management at Virginia Tech, told Fox News Digital that places tend to get attention for bedbugs when people are visiting and looking for them.

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Experts recommend inspecting mattress seams, upholstered furniture and behind headboards for bedbugs while traveling.

They also suggest using a sticky lint roller on clothing, upholstery and the bottoms of shoes to help detect hitchhiking bed bugs.

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