A teenager growing up in a world full of bullies isn’t always going to turn out well. Sure, bullies are present in various aspects of life, no matter how old or young you might be.
But for a thirteen-year-old who is still in the process of figuring himself out while also juggling the challenging aspect of school life, the abuse from bullies can be a huge detriment to his quality of life. That’s precisely what happened for Liam O’Brien back in 2017.
The Warning Signs
In 2017, Liam O’Brien was in his seventh grade of school and was leading a relatively everyday life of a typical thirteen-year-old at that time. Liam’s mom Deirdre O’Brien believed that her son was having fun at school and excelling in his academics, athletics, and social life.
In fact, Liam’s father Keith mentioned in an interview with ABC News that his child was relatively normal until he started exhibiting peculiar behavior over the school year. Keith O’Brien commented in the interview:
“He started to withdraw, he did not socialize with any friends anymore,”
“He just wanted to be with me and his mom.”
When Liam was due to return for this 8th grade at school, he started bringing up the idea of never going back. Keith O’Brien continued:
“…he started to say things like, ‘I don’t want to go back to school’ or ‘I hate that school,'”
Liam’s mother also took notice of changes in her son’s behavior. She noticed that Liam had stopped paying attention to his phone even though he used to spend most of his time on it. He spent less time playing soccer even though he had loved the sport. But she started getting worried when Liam expressed his disinterest in returning to school ever again.
On his 13th birthday dinner, Deirdre and Keith noticed that Liam barely had an appetite and that he had grown noticeably thinner. After taking him to a doctor, it was found out that Liam had developed an eating disorder and had suggested to the family to have him treated at an eating disorder clinic.
A Horrendous Experience
As it turns out, Liam had been the victim of endless bullying at the hands of his classmates. One day, Liam came home from school with a prominent bruise on the side of his face. The teenager tried to appease his parents’ worries by saying that he had merely tripped and fallen down the stairs. However, after a bit of prodding, Liam eventually broke down and told his parents the truth. He was being bullied at school, and it was eating away at his life.
Deirdre was devastated at her son’s admission and wrote about his experience in a viral Facebook post. The post has since garnered 4.6 thousand likes and 2.6 thousand shares.
Since then, Liam has received an outpouring of support from friends, family, and strangers alike. In the post, Deirdre recounted that the school closed the investigation into Liam’s circumstances, and no other students were held responsible. The Facebook post was her way of bringing attention to the issue and telling Liam’s story to the world.
Have you ever experienced bullying in the past? Feel free to comment on your experiences down below if you like.
Sources:
Deirdre Fell- O’brien on Facebook
Images & Featured Images via Deirdre Fell- O’brien on Facebook
My 13 yr old son and 10 year old daughter are going through the same thing except I wouldn’t say that it’s friends doing that! Friends do not bully!!! At my sons school the kids keep trying to get him to fight them! Yesterday these boys made these two girls go up to him and just start hitting him in the hopes he would hit them so that would give the boys a reason to jump him! He is trying to keep his nose down and just keep moving but kids just keep bullying him! He has been in lots of fights this year! Now he doesn’t even feel like he can fight to defend himself because he doesn’t want to get in trouble! So tired of bullies!
Honestly, I would switch schools. I work at an Elementary and even tho there aren’t cameras everywhere, there are enough that the school HAS to have some of this bullying on camera. If they say they don’t then they are trying to sweep it under the rug. Give your children a fresh start 💔 I know that’s easier said then done but it doesn’t sound like this is just going to miraculously get better 🙁 Prayers for your family .
My bullying was when I attended Ada elementary at Ada Ohio … name calling, emotional abuse, & physical abuse … in the 70’s I had hoped as I grown into an adult somewhere schools would stop this torture but I’ve seen it’s has stayed the same & in some cases gotten worse. I pray that this willl get better one day
I was severally bullied growing up. I’m almost 30 and still working through all of the trauma from the abuse. Please give him a fresh start at a new school. He is lucky to have such loving parents. I was lucky to have my mom but my step dad was evil, I ended up an addict but thank God have 7 plus years of sobriety and working through all my trauma and alot of it originally strains from being bullied.
As a retired educator I have witnessed bullying. However it was very short lived as I did not tolerate that behavior. Unfortunately this was 30 years ago when I was allowed to protect my students from each other, without fear of reprisals or the threat of possibly losing my job. It is so sad that we were actually instructed by the union not to break up a fight but to merely verbally reprimand students to stop fighting. If it were my child I would expect an adult to intervene even physically if necessary
I am sure if you look really hard, you could find a good job in construction. It is almost summer and asphalt company’s are always hiring. The world owes you nothing! You have to work hard for what you want. If you need assistance that is fine, but if you are abusing the system then karma has a way of finding you!