Quaden Bayles: Bullied 9-year-old gets a life coach to deal with suicidal thoughts, cruel taunts over dwarfism
A nine-year-old who was bullied over his dwarfism and was seen expressing suicidal thoughts in a viral video will now work with a life coach to deal with the bullying he's regularly subjected to.
Quaden Bayles, who suffers from dwarfism, shot to prominence after his mother shared a video of him crying and saying he "wanted to kill himself" after being taunted by bullies. The video crossed well over three million views. Quaden had also scratched at his neck and said, "I want to die... I want to scratch myself."
The news caught the attention of 'resilience educator' Brook Gibbs who approached Quaden to offer him help, Daily Mail reported. Sharing a picture of himself talking to Quaden, Gibbs said: ' I have a new buddy named Quaden. The world was introduced to him in an emotional state of suicidal despair. You won’t see that side of him again."
"I’m honored to be his resilience coach. He’s learning two core skills during our sessions: How to be unfazed by the mean words/actions of others and how to be kind to everyone, even the jerks in his life."
Gibbs also added that, with Quaden's mother Yarraka lending support, the pair will be able to push him to "do great things and make the world a better place".
The video of Quaden crying was viewed tens of millions of times and caught the attention of American comedian Brad Williams, who set up a GoFundMe page called 'Let's send a wonderful kid to Disneyland!' to lift Quaden's spirits.
The boy's family turned down the opportunity to visit Disneyland and has asked that any funds raised for the same be donated to charities instead.
The family pledged to donate the $700,000 raised to charity and Six charities will each receive approximately $66,000 USD. The charities receiving the money include, Born This Way Foundation, STOMP Out Bullying, Dolly’s Dream, Dwarfism Awareness Australia, Gallang Place, and the Balunu Foundation.
The report also added that many celebrities defended the schoolboy, including actor Hugh Jackman, rugby league legend Johnathan Thurston, rapper Cardi B, and broadcaster Piers Morgan.
Quaden, an Aboriginal boy, also led the Indigenous All-Stars out on to the pitch in their rugby league clash with the Maori All-Stars in Queensland earlier this month.