Lanna Hamann was a healthy, athletic 16-year-old from Arizona who played softball at Sunrise Mountain High School. She, a friend, and her friend's parents were vacationing in Mexico when the teen mysteriously went into cardiac arrest and died while on the beach. Although the official cause of her death has not been revealed, Lanna's mother says she believes the Red Bull energy drink Lanna consumed had everything to do with it.
It is believed that Lanna was dehydrated from not drinking water in the hot sun while hanging out at the beach. She began drinking Red Bull. The next thing that happened was that she complained to her friend's father that she wasn't feeling well and went into cardiac arrest. She had to be rushed to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
As a mom, I can't imagine getting that phone call -- or being the person who had to make that horrific phone call. Kris Hamann didn't blame anyone for what happened to her daughter and reportedly said that "it was something that could have happened anywhere, whether she was in Mexico or whether she was here in Arizona playing softball."
As if dealing with the unexpected death of your baby girl isn't enough, because of complications with her birth certificate, Kris had a lot of trouble getting her daughter's body back to the United States to give her a proper funeral. The family started an online campaign to raise money to bring her back and pay for a funeral, and Hamann says the costs far exceeded $13,000.
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We know that more and more teens are replacing sugary sodas with energy drinks, and we know research has proven that these drinks affect children's blood pressure and heart rates. Maybe it's unrealistic to expect kids to stop drinking these beverages, but we can at least educate them about how important it is to hydrate with water when the weather is hot. No one should ever rely on energy drinks to keep cool. This is one horrible story with an important lesson. Our hearts go out to the family and friends of this young girl.
Do you drink energy drinks or allow your kids to drink them? Does this story change your mind about them?
Image via gofundme.com