A father loses his child to suicide

Kirk Smalley shares a story of loosing a child to suicide because of bullying.
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A father loses his child to suicide

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- Ty was 11 years old. He was just a typical kid, typical boy, and he was being picked on for a little over two years by these kids at school, mainly one kid, but there were several that were involved in it. One day, he kind of finally had enough. He was sitting in the gymnasium with his best friend, and they were waiting on class to start, and this kid come up and pushed him, and Ty turned around and pushed him back. It's always the second guy that seems to get caught. Ty retaliated and he's the one that got caught. He was suspended for three days. His mama took him home. She had to go back to work that day. They were shorthanded, and so she told Ty to do his homework, told him to do his chores, told him that we were gonna talk about it when we got home that evening, and Laura came home at 2:38 PM on May 13th, 2010. She found out that our baby hadn't done his homework, that he didn't do his chores. Instead, Ty had killed himself on our bedroom floor. You know, I got a phone call that day. It was 2:39. Caller ID said that it was Laura, so I answered. You know, she was screaming. I mean, just screaming. I really couldn't even understand anything that she kept trying to tell me. She just screamed. I guess I finally screamed back at her. I told her she had to quit. She had to tell me what was going on. She finally managed to say, "He's dead. "He shot himself." Ever since that day, Laura and I, we've been traveling all over this country, actually all over the world, talking to families of kids that have done that same kind of thing. We want to try to make sure that no other baby goes through what ours did no other kid does what our son did, no other family lives our nightmare.


Kirk Smalley shares a story of loosing a child to suicide because of bullying.

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Kirk Smalley

President, Stand for the Silent

Kirk and Laura Smalley lost their 11 year old son Richard Ty Field on May 13th 2010 to suicide due to constant bullying. Since then they have been speaking out against bullying to over 1,100 schools and community organizations reaching over 1,250,000 youths and adults, as well as meeting with president Obama and the first lady. They have been invited to speak in 42 states and 16 countries to date. Our mantra is a simple statement born from a commitment to a child lost – to stop bullying in our world today.  With unequaled dedication and commitment, they have  tirelessly labored  to inspire a world where our children can be safe and where no other parent feels the agony of a child lost to the effects of bullying.

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