A nine-year-old boy who said he wanted to end his life after being bullied over his dwarfism will lead out an NRL team.
Yarraka Bayles, from Brisbane, filmed her son Quaden crying in the car after she picked him up from school on Wednesday.
The schoolboy, who has the most common type of dwarfism called achondroplasia, told his mother: ‘Give me a rope, I want to kill myself.’
‘I just want to stab myself in the heart… I want someone to kill me.’
Since sharing the video, Ms Bayles has been inundated with kind messages of support from friends and strangers alike.
The Indigenous All Stars NRL team were the latest to reach out to the family, inviting Quaden to walk them onto the pitch on Saturday.
Quaden is pictured with NRL star Latrell Mitchell. The nine-year-old will lead the Indigenous All Stars NRL team onto the pitch on Saturday
The nine-year-old was snapped with NRL star Latrell Mitchell, who donned a South Sydney Rabbitohs jersey after signing with the club for the 2020 season.
The Indigenous All Stars squad filmed a video for the schoolboy on Thursday, letting him know they were backing him.
Mitchell said: ‘Hey Quadey… Just wanted to wish you all the best brother, we know you’re going through a hard time right now but the boys are here.’
‘We’ve got your back, we’re here to support you bud. We just want to make sure you’re doing alright.’
‘We want you around, we want you to lead us down on the weekend. It’s going to mean more to us than it will to you bud.
‘Just make sure you’re looking after yourself and hopefully we get to see you in the next couple of days.’
They will take on New Zealand Maori Kiwis at CBUS Super Stadium on the Gold Coast.
The viral video has been viewed almost four million times.
Quaden also scratched at his neck and said: ‘I want to die… I want to scratch myself’.
Ms Bayles shared the video publicly on Facebook in a bid to raise awareness about the impact of bullying.
She said she normally tries to keep distressing moments such as this private but felt she had been left with no choice but to go public.
‘We try to be as strong as positive as possible and only share the highlights… but this is how bullying affects a nine-year-old kid,’ she said in the video.
At the start of the five-minute clip, Ms Bayles said: ‘I just picked my son up from school, witnessed a bullying episode, rang the principal and I want people to know this is the effect bullying has. This is what bullying does.
‘So can you please educate your children, your families, your friends because all it takes is one more instance… and you wonder why kids are killing themselves.’
‘This is the impact bullying has a nine-year-old kid who just wants to go to school, get an education and have fun but every single fricking day something happens.
The mother, from Brisbane, filmed her son (pictured together) crying in the car after she picked him up from school on Wednesday and publicly shared the video on Facebook
‘Another episode another bullying, another taunt, another name-calling.’
As Quaden sobbed, Ms Bayles asked for help from anyone viewing the footage.
‘So is there any advice or support or anything that other parents have done?
‘I’ve got some good advice but I need more, I want people to know how much it is hurting us as a family,’ she said as her voice quivered.
The mother did not go into specifics about the latest bullying incident, but previously said her son was called a ‘midget’ by his class mates.
Last year she told the Courier-Mail Quaden first tried to kill himself three years ago when he was just six.
‘I was so shocked. I honestly didn’t think he would even know what or how at six years old,’ she said.
The mother, an Aboriginal rights activist, said her son has made several attempts to take his own life.
‘I’ve explained to him that once you go, there’s no coming back, you’re gone forever, but he still kept trying,’ the mother said.
She also said Quaden has been affected by the death of his grandfather and his younger half-brother, who was stillborn.
‘He thought if he went to heaven, then he’d be with his Pop and his little brother,’ she said.
She told the newspaper she was proud that she had spoken publicly about asking for help.
The mother, an Aboriginal rights activist, said her son has made several attempts to take his own life