Caden Ballard: TikTok experiment goes wrong, 12yo’s skin ‘melted away’ in Coleman, Texas

A boy has been left with serious burns across his body after he attempted a science experiment trend from TikTok.

Caden Ballard, 12, was scrolling through TikTok with his older brother when they spotted a fun looking video showing them the steps of how to light a bottle on fire.

“You basically take some rubbing alcohol and you put it into a bottle, and then you light it on fire, and the fire shoots up the bottle. I did that. My brother and I did that, and it was cool,” Caden told KTAB.

But things took a turn when the brothers went to clean up.

“It looked like the fire had gone out. So, my brother grabbed (the bottle) and said, ‘here, throw it away.’ So, I grabbed it to throw it in the trash can, (and) my shirt was on fire,” Caden said.

They had used a type of rubbing alcohol called isopropyl, which when lit can have an invisible flame.

Caden’s brother reacted quickly, telling him to stop, drop and roll after he helped take the burning boy’s shirt off him.

The boys quickly called emergency services, and a friend who heard them make the call informed their mother, Christina Ballard, who was on the other side of their property when the incident occurred.

She rushed to get to Caden, and was shocked when she saw him covered in second and third degree burns.

“When I walked up to the porch, he was just face, chest, arms, stomach covered in burns. It looked like his skin had been melted away,” she said.

“They like to listen to the story times on TikTok, you know, the Reddit stories. So I never expected things to go the way they went.”

Caden was treated in Parkland hospital, and has undergone several surgeries and is now being transferred to a burns unit in Galveston.

His family say he faces weeks of ongoing intensive care, recovery and therapy.

Ms Ballard is extremely grateful to her eldest son for acting so swiftly.

“I don’t know how you were brave enough to reach into the flames and pull the shirt off of your brother. But I thank God every single day that you were brave enough to do that,” she said.

She is now warning other parents about the potential danger of children copying videos they see on social media.

“Just tell your kids because you never know when something they see online could end up putting them in the hospital or worse. We got very lucky; unfortunately, it’s bad, but Caden and I are very lucky that it wasn’t a lot worse,” she said.

Caden’s family have set up a GoFundMe to help cover the costs of his treatments.

“We are asking for your support to ease this burden so Caden’s family can focus on what matters most: his healing.”