Trigger warning: this post contains distressing content relating to suicide.
Surrounded by her heartbroken parents, siblings, and grandparents, 18-year-old Brandy Vela took her own life just a few days ago.
The tragedy in Texas, USA, came after years of bullying from fellow fears, who tormented her daily for her weight and set-up fake social media accounts in her name.
Just before her death, she sent the following message to her family, apologising for what she was about to do.
Her family rushed to be by her side. Talking to CNN, her 22-year-old sister, Jackie said she was the first one to receive it and immediately raced to get home to save her sister.
When she got there, she recalled hearing someone crying in the house.
"So, I went upstairs and I look in her room, and she's against the wall... And she's just crying and crying. And, I'm like, 'Brandy, please don't. Brandy, no'," she said.
"My dad just yelled, 'Help me, help me, help me'."
Her father, Raul, remembered the horrific experience, begging his daughter.
"She said she’d come too far to turn back. It was very unfortunate that I had to see that. It’s hard when your daughter tells you to turn around. You feel helpless."
According to Jackie, people would never stop harassing Brandy, even going as far to set-up fake dating websites mocking her.
"They would make dating websites of her. They would put her number and put her picture, and lie about her age. They'd say she was giving herself up for sex for free, to call her.
"They would say really, really mean things like, 'Why are you still here?' They would call her fat and ugly. She was beautiful, absolutely beautiful; the only thing people could find to pick on her was her weight."
"I hope this makes you happy," her older brother, Victor, said to the bullies.
Brandy's family are calling for tougher rules and laws to prevent bullying.
Despite the numerous incidents of ongoing bullying being reported to the school, they claimed they couldn't do anything to help Brandy.
In a statement released by the school, they claimed that it was a "safe" place for her.
"She had a lot of friends and was thought of warmly by her peers and teachers. She did bring it to the school's attention before Thanksgiving break that she was getting harassing messages to her cellphone outside of school. Our deputy investigated it and the app that was being used to send the messages was untraceable. We encouraged her to change her phone number," it read.
"We've cared for Brandy since she came to TCISD in the sixth grade. We are devastated at this news. Our prayers, thoughts and concerns are with her family and friends as they grieve her loss."
Family, friends and the community came together for a prayer vigil for Brandy on Friday night.
If this post brings up issues for you, or you just need someone to talk to, please call Lifeline on 131 114. You can also visit the Lifeline website here and the Beyond Blue website here.
Top Comments
Oh, that's just tragic. There HAS to be a way to deal with these disgusting acts of bullying. I don't believe for one minute that any app is "untraceable". That poor girl and her family.