Quaden Bayles: Family of bullied schoolboy to give £360k raised for him to dwarfism charity
'We want the money to go to community organisations that really need it', the family says
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Your support makes all the difference.The family of Quaden Bayles have said they will not be accepting money raised for the nine-year-old to visit Disneyland.
Last week, American comedian Brad Williams launched a GoFundMe page to send the schoolboy to Disneyland after seeing a now-viral video of him crying about being bullied at school.
Brad – who was born with the same type of dwarfism as Quaden, achondroplasia – successfully raised more than $700,000 (£360,000) with the help of 20,000 global donors.
However, the child’s family have now stated that, while the fundraiser was a touching example of goodwill, they would prefer the money to be donated to charity.
“What kid wouldn't want to go to Disneyland, especially if you have lived Quaden's life. To escape to anywhere that is fun that doesn't remind him of his day to day challenges,” Mundanara Bayles, the boy’s aunt, told NITV News.
"But my sister said 'You know what, let's get back to the real issue'. This little fella has been bullied. How many suicides, black or white, in our society have happened due to bullying?”
She continued: “We want the money to go to community organisations that really need it. They know what the money should be spent on.
“So as much as we want to go to Disneyland, I think our community would far off benefit from that. [sic]”
The family has highlighted a number of charities that they would like the funds to be donated to including Dwarfism Awareness Australia and the Balunu Healing Foundation.
“We need to come together and work out how to make sure young people like Quaden don't have to deal with what they have been dealing with,” Mundanara added.
“We've had seven kids at the Murri School in Brisbane, where I am on the board, take their lives in the last ten years.”
The family have confirmed that they are currently in talks with Brad regarding the GoFundMe page, which stated that after paying for the family’s trip to Disneyland, any excess money would “be donated to anti-bullying/anti-abuse charities”.
The comedian is not the only high-profile name to express their support for Quaden.
After the video of the schoolboy in floods of tears went viral online, actor Hugh Jackman posted a clip to the schoolboy on his Twitter account.
“Quaden, you are stronger than you know mate, and no matter what, you've got a friend in me,” Jackman said.
The Greatest Showman star also sent a message to the child’s bullies, saying that “life is hard enough” without people going out of their way to hurt others.
“So, everyone let's please be kind to each other, bullying is not OK,” he said.
“Life is hard enough, so let's remember, every person in front of us is facing some kind of battle, so let's just be kind.”
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