A cancer survivor committed suicide after weeks of bullying due to her crooked smile. Bethany Thompson, an 11-year-old girl from Cable, Ohio, took her to life on October 19, and her parents believe that constant bullying by her peers led her to commit suicide.
Bethany was diagnosed with cancer as a little girl and had the tumor removed and underwent treatment. Since 2008, she was living free of cancer, but the operation left her with nerve damage that caused her to have a crooked smile.
Bethany was always teased and mocked by a group of girls at her school, the Triad Middle School. Moreover, on October 19, while sitting in a school bus on her way home with her best friend the young cancer survivor made a shocking confession.
Bethany told her pal that she would be her best friend forever and that she was planning to end her life. She revealed to her friend that she was teased over and over and could not take it anymore. The young girl arrived home, found a loaded gun and went on the back porch and shot herself.
The friend called Bethany’s father, Paul Thompson, to tell him about the suicide confession and he ran to find that his child had already done the unthinkable. Wendy Feucht, Bethany’s mother, spoke to local media saying:
“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. There’s a piece missing, I’ve had this constant in my life for 12 years and now it’s gone. Nothing’s going to be able to fill that hole.”
The devastated mother claimed that her little girl even tried to launch an anti-bullying campaign by putting posters all over the school. However, an administrator asked her to stop because they were negative.
In a brief statement, Triad Local Superintendent Chris Piper claimed that in 2015, they did investigate a bullying incident against Bethany, but would not give any further details, and added that the matter was resolved. In 2012, a 12-year-old boy, who attended Triad Middle School, killed himself. Piper added:
“There was no evidence of a pattern of bullying this year.”
Bethany’s dad said that he wants to educate children about the dangers of bullying. The mourning father stated:
“If I can take one day off a week and go talk to 100 kids and save one of them it’s going to be worth it and that’s what I’m looking to do.”
Some commenters suggest that children responsible for the harassment should face some punishment.
