A nine-year-old boy who was bullied for his dwarfism has led out the Indigenous All-Stars NRL team after a video of him crying and asking to end his life went viral online.
Australian schoolboy Quaden Bayles shot to fame as an anti-bullying ambassador after his mother Yarraka filmed him crying in the family car on Wednesday.
Quaden has been inundated with comments of support from celebrities, musicians, sports stars and the general public in the wake of the distressing footage.
The Murri boy was invited to walk the Indigenous All-Stars team onto the pitch at Cbus Super Stadium, on the Gold Coast, as they took on the Maori Kiwis on Saturday.
The nine-year-old donned black headphones and held hands with captain Joel Thompson as he led the squad into the middle of the park about 8pm.
He was dressed in an All-Stars jersey and carried the match ball as thousands of cheered in support for the schoolboy.
Quaden was earlier photographed with commentator and former North Queensland Cowboys star Johnathan Thurston..
Former rugby league player Johnathan Thurston (right) poses with Quaden Bayles (left) before the NRL match between the Indigenous All-Stars and the New Zealand Maori Kiwis All-Stars at Cbus Super Stadium
Australian schoolboy Quaden Bayles shot to fame as an anti-bullying ambassador after his mother Yarraka filmed him crying in the family car on Wednesday. He has the most common type of dwarfism called achondroplasia
Quaden is pictured with NRL star Latrell Mitchell. The nine-year-old was invited to lead the Indigenous All-Stars NRL team onto the pitch on Saturday
The All-Stars squad filmed a video for the schoolboy on Thursday, letting him know they were on his side.
NRL star Latrell 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.’
Ms Bayles said Quaden had gone ‘from the worst day of his life to the best day of his life’ after being asked to lead out the NRL team.
‘His dream is to be a footy player. That’s not going to be a reality,’ she said.
Quaden (centre) is pictured with his mum Yarraka Bayles (left) and NRL star Cody Walker (right)
‘This is the closest thing for him to play football. That is enough for us.
Indigenous coach Laurie Daley hoped they could bring a smile to Quaden’s face after throwing open their dressing room to the youngster .
‘I think anyone who saw that video were heartbroken,’ Daley said.
‘We want to embrace him and include him in some of our activities over the next 48 hours, him and his family, just to show we care and we are here for him.’
In the heartbreaking footage, Quaden – who has the most common type of dwarfism called achondroplasia – is seen sobbing into the camera and saying he is suicidal from being relentlessly bullied.
He told his mother: ‘Give me a rope, I want to kill myself.’
Yarraka Bayles, an Aboriginal rights activist, said her son has made several attempts to take his own life
Quaden Bayles, nine, (pictured) was bullied so badly he was seen in heart breaking footage asking to kill himself
‘I just want to stab myself in the heart… I want someone to kill me.’
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.
‘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.
Yarraka Bayles, from Brisbane, filmed her son Quaden (pictured together) crying in the car after she picked him up from school on Wednesday and publicly shared the video on Facebook