Fresh flowers line the grave site where Aja Chandler was laid to rest, one year ago Friday.
It was also this time last year, students at Aja's school lined up along the school yard fence, with ribbons in their hands, as her funeral procession passed by. On Friday, a private ceremony was held to remember one of their own.
The night she died, her entire family was home. All unaware, that inside her very room she was experimenting with the choking game. Her father’s first thought was suicide.
“We thought that at first, maybe this was the case, but nothing made sense. It really didn't,” Joe Chandler says.
All the evidence pointed to the so-called choking game. Her parents found ropes and scarves, with certain loops, inside her bedroom.
Just days after her death, they opened up about their story, to prevent similar incidents and they kept their promise to raise awareness. The website rememberaja.org shines a light on the very dark issue.
Over the last few months, the Chandlers have been working with a family in the United States to put together a PSA; sending a serious message about the choking game.
“They need to know their kids are growing up or are seeing things and trying things that are dangerous,” he says.
Experts estimate 45 per cent of kids know about the choking game or have tried it. At the same time, more than 90 per cent of adults had never heard of it.
It's a sensitive topic but parenting expert Win Harwood says the Chandlers story has got people talking about it.
“Thanks to Aja's parents, we are more familiar with it because of what happened,” Hardwood says. “I’m sure lives are going to be saved.”
