Sad

12-year-old boy who was victim of bullying attack dies after weeks in hospital

A young boy who was the victim of bullying has died, according to his family. Bailey O'Neill, who turned 12 on Saturday, was in a coma after suffering several seizures. His family told NBC10's Katy Zachry that he died at the hospital on Sunday.

Bailey's family says he was jumped by two classmates during recess at Darby Township School last January and suffered a concussion as well as a broken nose as a result. He then began to suffer seizures the next day, forcing doctors to put him into a medically induced coma. Joy Fecanin, the boy's grandmother, told NBC10's Katy Zachry that he had to have a blood transfusion after getting pneumonia.

When I was the same age, I was jumped by four girls while walking home from school. They broke my glasses, and tore my coat, but fortunately I wasn't injured. Another time one of the girls in school threatened to kill me. I avoided the walk home for weeks, getting my mom to come pick me up. It saddens me to see that kids are still being bullied. It is not some rite of passage, or just kids being kids. The bullies often have serious issues themselves, and the bullied obviously suffer. Something must be done to create a zero tolerance for bullying in our schools. I'm not sure if the problem is getting worse, or if we just are more connected by the media today. But horrible things are happening, much worse than being threatened for lunch money or having fish guts put in your biology book in your locker (that happened to me, too). Kids have died, have been set on fire, shot. This is terrible. I don't have any solutions myself, but this is one reason I'm glad I'm not a parent--this kind of thing would worry me to death. My thoughts are with this family--and the others that struggle to deal with bullying. It's a challenge to deal with and could have grave consequences in how it's handled.