Quaden Bayles, aged 9, told his mother in a video that he wanted to die because he was constantly bullied about his medical condition | Image: Twitter
A crowdfunding campaign that was started with the hope of raising R150,000 ($10,000) to send a bullied Australian boy to Disneyland has, as of 21 February 12 pm CAT, raised over R2 million ($195,456).
The campaign was started by an American comedian named Brad Williams who also refers to himself as a “part-time dwarf”.
According to Australia’s News.com, earlier this week Yarraka Bayles took to social media to share a gut-wrenching live video of her distraught son, nine-year-old Quaden.
She filmed the video when she went to pick her son up from school on Tuesday and found him in hysterics. He can be seen in tears, telling her that he just could not take the bullying anymore.
She also spoke during the video and explained that she wanted to show people the impact that bullying could have and just how many people it actually affected beyond the person who was being bullied.
“Give me a knife — I want to kill myself,” screams Quaden.
To date, the video has been viewed over 18 million times and has been shared over 300,000 times.
Various users across a number of social media platforms then downloaded the video and shared it along with their thoughts about the pain Quaden was clearly in.
The video then reached Williams set up the GoFundMe page.
“I’m setting up this GoFundMe to let Quaden know that bullying will not be tolerated and that he is a wonderful human being who deserves joy. I want to fly Quaden and his mother to America, get them a nice hotel and bring them to Disneyland,” explained Williams.
“This isn’t just for Quaden, 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,” he added.
Williams has spoken to Yarraka directly and has been given the information needed to book the flights.
“Funds raised will be spent on two airplane tickets for Quaden and his mother from Australia to Los Angeles. As well as providing a hotel, food, and tickets to Disneyland Park in Anaheim for multiple days. After all the flights, hotel, tickets, and food is paid for, any excess money will be donated to anti-bullying/anti-abuse charities,” said Williams.
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