A mother has shared heartbreaking footage of her 9-year-old son, who has dwarfism, in tears after a brutal bullying incident as a call to schools and parents everywhere to up the ante on disability awareness. Since the footage went viral, millions of people, including several high-profile celebrities, have come forward to support the little boy Quaden.
Yarraka Bayles shared the distressing footage of her son in tears after a traumatizing interaction with school bullies on Feb. 19, 2020. Quaden was born in Brisbane, Australia, and is of aboriginal descent. He also has achondroplasia, the most common form of dwarfism.
Sobbing desperately on the passenger seat of his mother’s car, Quaden cries, “I’m gonna die right now, I want someone to kill me.”
“So now we have a very, severely suicidal child who is sick of the bullying that is every single day,” Yarraka explains, through tears. The devastated mom shared the video clip on social media shortly thereafter; to date, the video has been viewed tens of millions of times.
“Quaden, you are stronger than you know, mate,” the “X-Men” actor began, “and no matter what, you’ve got a friend in me.”
“This isn’t just for Quaden,” Williams wrote, “this is for anyone who has been bullied in their lives and told they weren’t good enough. Let’s show Quaden, and others, that there is good in the world and they are worthy of it.”
“After all the flights, hotel, tickets, and food is paid for,” Williams explained, “any excess money will be donated to anti-bullying/anti-abuse charities.”
The support didn’t end there. For rugby-mad Quaden, the icing on the cake came in the form of an invitation from the National Rugby League’s Indigenous All-Stars team to join them on the field before their game against the Maori Kiwis All-Stars on Feb. 22.
On the day of the game, Quaden held team captain Joel Thompson’s hand and walked out onto the field amid cheering from the gathered crowd. Yarraka commented that Quaden was “going from the worst day of his life to the best day of his life.”
