It’s home time at Triad Middle School in Ohio on October 19 and Bethany Thompson prepares to hop on her bus home.
No-one would have expected that this would be her last-ever bus trip…
After telling her best friend she loves her and that they will always be best friends, Bethany walked inside, reached for a loaded handgun on an upper-shelf and took her own life.
It is still unclear who owns the gun.
This horse-riding- and op-shop-loving little girl was just 11 years old. She was only in Year 6.
Her parents, Wendy Feucht and Paul Thompson, who are understandably shocked and grief-stricken, allege that Bethany took her own life because she was bullied at school, namely, as Mr Thompson asserts, for what kids would refer to as her “crooked” smile.
When Bethany was three years old, she was diagnosed with brain cancer. She had the tumour surgically removed, which saved her life, but some of the nerves in Bethany’s face were left damaged, leaving her with an uneven smile.
Mr Thompson had planned to take Bethany out for pizza the very next day. He said she was “excited” about it.
In her obituary, it said that Bethany also loved swimming, colouring-in and Pokemon.
“I think that’s why she took (her life),” Mr Thompson said.
Mrs Feucht agreed with her ex-husband, stating: ‘I think that she was just done.”
“She didn’t feel like anybody could do anything to help her.”
“People need to know that even the littlest things can break someone.”
Not only that, but Bethany’s best friend also said that she and Bethany were teased relentlessly by their classmates that same day.
According to The Columbus Dispatch, this isn’t the first time a child has committed suicide who attended Triad Middle School; four years ago, a 12-year-old student also took his own life.
The school are now investigating how they can reevaluate their “anti-bullying educational side” so that they are able to determine “when things go from normal misbehaviour to a pattern of bullying and to deter and stop misbehaviour.”
Anti-bullying reforms aside, our thoughts are with the Thompson family during this difficult time.
If you, or a person you know, needs someone to talk to, visit beyondblue’s website or call them on 1300 224 636.
