11-Year-Old Brain Cancer Survivor Commits Suicide After Being Bullied Over Her Uneven Grin Caused By Tumor

This should never have happened. But if anything this is a reminder to anyone who has kids – please encourage them to spread love and kindness.

Bethany Thompson was an eleven-year-old girl who bravely fought brain cancer. 

But after beating the disease, she got off a school bus and shot herself with a gun on the back porch of her Cable, Ohio, home.

Bethany Thompson’s distraught mother Wendy Feucht believes her daughter was badly bullied before she took her own life.

Bethany Thompson’s mother said in an interview: ‘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.’

The Columbus Dispatch reported that the day Bethany shot herself after speaking to a female friend. Bethany mother recounted her daughter’s final hours:

‘She told her [best friend] that she loved her and that she was her best friend forever, but that she was going to kill herself when she got home.’ 

The mother also said that her daughter’s friend informed several people in her class that had frequently teased them both. But this didn’t stop the bullying.

Bethany’s father Paul Thompson said in an interview that his daughter went through brain cancer in 2008. Thompson revealed that his daughter’s uneven grin was caused by a tumor that was removed.

Bethany’s father says fellow students bullied Bethany because of this, stating in no uncertain terms: ‘I think that’s why she took [her life].’ 

Bethany had attended Triad Middle School. Superintendent Chris Piper told the Columbus Dispatch that Bethany was bullied the previous year and it was settled, saying: ‘There was no evidence of a pattern of bullying this year.’

Superintendent Chris Piper went on to say that there were endeavours ‘to change the school climate.’ He added that he would re-evaluate the anti-bullying policy ‘so that we are able to determine when things go from normal misbehavior to a pattern of bullying and to deter and stop that misbehavior.’

An online obituary for Bethany said: ‘She was born December 17, 2004 in Marysville, Ohio. Bethany was currently a sixth grader at Triad Local Schools.’

‘She enjoyed swimming, coloring, shopping – especially Goodwill, music, Super Heroes and Pokemon. Every year, she looked forward to attending vacation Bible school and church camp. She loved all animals, horseback riding and her family.’