Tragically, there are a lot of stories about children who are constantly being bullied at school, often with disastrous consequences.
The story of the 7th grader Liam, a typical teenage boy, is one of them. This young kid was always smiling and lived for his soccer, appreciated good food, and always hung out with friends – just like any other young man of his age would do.
One day, Liam’s mom started to notice that his positive behavior had changed completely.
He told her out of nowhere that he no longer needed his smartphone, and that was a huge red flag for mom.
After this incident, she also noticed that Liam didn’t go to his friend’s house anymore by bike, and soon enough, he didn’t meet with any of his friends anymore.
He stayed inside the entire day, well before lockdown measures were in place due to the pandemic.
Aside from his friends, Liam also started neglecting his soccer, something he once truly lived for. You could also consider Liam to be a ‘foodie’, but that also changed completely. He’d eat just about everything in sight, but now, he even had to deny food on his plate.
Mom Deirdre knew that something was wrong, and she wanted to do everything in her power to get to the bottom of this and fix it.
When Liam refused to go to school one day, mom had an emotional talk with him.
“I was determined to get to the bottom of my son’s sudden and severe dismissal of his former passions, but he was so secretive and closed off,” Liam’s mom said in an interview with The Well. “Finally, one Monday morning when he refused to go to school, I knew it was time to make it happen. I sat him down at the kitchen table and pleaded with him to share what was going on.”
Liam then shared with her that he was being bullied at school, and it wasn’t just a one-time thing.
“I asked how often they did this to him. He looked me in the eyes and said, ‘Every day, Mom.’”
Deirdre’s heart shattered into a million pieces.
Apparently, some children at his school constantly kept telling him that “he sucked”, and that he was never good enough to join the school’s soccer team.
It didn’t just stop at verbal abuse, they physically threatened and assaulted the little boy as well. Sometimes, they even told him that he’d better kill himself – and this severe bullying was something that had been going on for an entire year.
Right away, mom took action and decided to intervene.
Sadly enough, neither the parents of the bullies nor the school decided to take responsibility, and there were zero consequences for the culprits.
In the meantime, Liam needed help.
He was placed on a feeding tube because he didn’t eat properly, as he developed an eating disorder. He also had to go through numerous rounds of therapy for his depression.
This whole time, Deirdre felt helpless and felt the need to share her son’s story.
“I felt like I needed to shout Liam’s story from the rooftops,” so that’s exactly what she did on social media.
“The words just fell out of me. It was cathartic. I read it over and over to myself and hit send.”
The post went massively viral, and people from all over the world shared their support for Liam.
In fact, strangers even made the hashtag #WeStandWithLiam, and turned this story into an entire anti-bullying movement.
The massive response online turned out to be essential for Liam’s recovery journey. He spent ten weeks at a treatment facility for his depression and eating disorder and returned back home after.
He returned to the same school, as confident as he’d ever been. He also rejoined the soccer team and finished the season.
Bullying can be so devastating, it’s always important to be kind to each other.
Mom Deirdre hopes that her son’s tough journey and the anti-bullying movement it inspired can make a difference.
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