Quaden Bayles told his mother in a video that he wanted to die because he was constantly bullied about his medical condition.
A heartbreaking video of an Australian boy who was bullied because of his dwarfism at school has gone viral after his mother posted it online.2:34
A mother has appealed for advice after posting video of her distraught nine-year-old son telling of his anguish due to “constant” bullying over his dwarfism.
Schoolboy Quaden Bayles, from Queensland, Australia, is in floods of tears in the Facebook footage as he talks about being picked on because of his disability.
“I’m going to die right now… give me a knife, I’m going to kill myself. Give me a knife now so I can stab myself in the heart. You watch me,” he says in the footage shot from his mother’s car.
He later adds: “I want someone to kill me…I want to die.”
Quaden’s mother says her son faces constant bullying for his condition
Quaden’s mother, Yarraka, who filmed the video, said: “This is what bullying does,” before explaining that she has to “constantly keep my eye on him because of the suicide attempts”.
“So now we have a severely suicidal child who is sick of the bullying that is every single day that he attends school or is in public
“It’s every single f****** day and we’re sick of it.”
Ms Bayles went on to say she had started the filming the video on Wednesday after witnessing an incident as she picked Quaden up from school.
She said: “We just went to pick him up and saw a student patting him on the head and making fun of his height…He ran to the car in hysterics because he doesn’t want me to make a scene at the school.”
Quaden was in floods of tears during the video after a recent incident
Broadcasting the video from her car, she said she felt like she was “failing” as a parent as the daily incidents of “name calling, the pointing out his difference” were “hurting us as a family”.
“I’ve already called the school,” she added. “It has been several times. Every time there’s a new kid that’s not aware of Quaden’s condition.”
Quaden was born with achondroplasia dwarfism, a genetic condition that affects a person’s growth.
Ms Bayles says she wants parents to educate their children on the effects of bullying and raise disability awareness.
The video has been viewed more than seven million times since it was broadcast to Facebook on Wednesday afternoon.
It has also been shared hundreds of thousands of times and attracted attention worldwide.
“Quaden, you belong here, this school may not work but there will be space for you,” one Facebook user commented on the video.
Another said: “This breaks my heart. I’m sorry this little guy has to go through this … you are a better person than those bullies.”
The Indigenous All Stars rugby league team also had a message for Quaden, which they posted in a video to Facebook.
Inviting him to lead them on to the field ahead of a game on Saturday, they said: “We know you’re going through a hard time right now, but the boys are here, we’ve got your back.
“Just make sure you’re thinking the right things because we want you around…it’ll mean more to us than you, bud, just make sure you’re looking after yourself.”
Meanwhile, Ms Bayles released a statement through the Stand Tall 4 Dwarfism group – of which Quaden is a prominent member – to say the messages of support had been “overwhelming”.
It said: “Quaden Bayles’ family would like to take this time firstly to thank everyone for the overwhelming show of love and support from so many people all around the world.
“Due to the large volume of messages, we are unable to respond to everyone at this time as we need time to process as a family and would like to ask that media respect the family’s wishes.”