Parents blame bullying after 11-year-old cancer survivor commits suicide
Bethany Thompson was left with an off-center smile after suffering nerve damage during a procedure to remove a tumor related to her battle with brain cancer. Eight years after defeating the cancer, the 11-year-old Ohio girl shot and killed herself after what her parents believe was relentless bullying over her smile.
Bethany rode the school bus on Oct. 19 with a friend and shared that she planned to kill herself later that day.
“She told her she loved her and that she was her best friend forever, but that she was going to kill herself when she got home,” Wendy Feucht, Bethany’s mother, told The Columbus Dispatch.
Once Bethany arrived at her home in Cable, she found a loaded handgun on an upper shelf, went to the back porch and shot herself. The Columbus Dispatch reported that it was unclear who owns the gun.