Trigger warning: child loss
Enough is enough. Relentless bullying pushed 12-year-old Drayke over the edge, choosing to put an end to his pain and relentless bullying. This beautiful boy’s family are forever shattered and forever changed. Now, in the days following Drayke’s death, they’re raising awareness about bullying and suicide.
Drayke Hardman’s story is being shared by his parents to bring awareness of the unthinkable – bullying and suicide. It’s hard to read of another parent’s heartbreak (and even harder to write), but we need to. And we need to take action – starting with our own kids.
Drayke’s story: loved fiercely and bullied relentlessly
Drakye Andrew Hardman was born May 26th 2009 to his two loving parents, Samie and Andrew Hardman. He was loved fiercely by his family, had an unwavering love for sports, had a HUGE heart and the kindest of spirits, as told by Remembered Warriors.
But Drayke was also relentlessly bullied at school for even the most minor of things. Drayke tried desperately to become friends with his bully to no avail. Drayke’s school was aware of the bullying – even taking action against the bully with a previous suspension. But still, the bullying persisted.
A week from Hell
Drayke came home from school on Monday sporting a black eye and confided to his older sister that his bully had hurt him. Two days later on February 9th, 2022 Drayke attempted to take his own life. Drayke’s dad, Andrew, immediately started CPR until paramedics arrived and took over and after 15 minutes Drayke’s heart started beating but the damage had already been done.
On February 10, 2022, Drayke passed away surrounded by his family and their all-encompassing love. He was just 12-years-old.
Drayke’s mum speaks out
Samie is Drayke’s mum. Her hurt is both unimaginable and no doubt unbearable and yet despite her shattered heart and shock, she has a message she wants to share so that the sorrowful, angry nightmare she’s currently living, doesn’t become one that you do.
Samie posted photos of her beautiful son Drayke, both full of life and heart-wrenchingly at the end of his life, to her Instagram (words and US spelling remain unchanged):
“2.10.22
This…. This is the result of bullying, my handsome boy was fighting a battle that not even I could save him. It is real, it is silent and there is nothing absolutely nothing as a parent you can do to take this deep hurt away. There are no signs, only hurtful words of others that ultimately stole OUR Drayke from this cruel place.
He was 12…. 12 years old. How does a 12-year-old who was so knowingly fiercely loved by everyone think that life is so hard he needs to take himself from it.. 💔💔💔
This boy knew love, every single day of his life, he was our world, my world, his dad’s world, his sisters’ world… we revolved around this boy.. To know Drayke was to love him, he had a fire that lit for people, his witty personality and those baby blue eyes won over the world. He is my boy, the one person that at any given point would just stop and give me a hug, tell me 100384849 times a day “Mom, I just love you”, my basketball and JAZZ obsessed. He always told his dad and Sisters he was going to be the shortest NBA star, so he could team up with @spidadmitchell and they could conquer basketball…
Well Buddy, you are my saving grace, you are daddy’s hunting guide, and you are now the forever protectors of your big sisters.. I’m not sure how to navigate this life without you. I was suppose to spend the rest of my life with you, and instead, you spent the rest of yours with me.
My heart is shattered, I don’t know how to fix it, or if I ever will, but I will spend every minute teaching kindness in the memory of my favorite dude. His purpose here was to teach kindness, to show love that and he absolutely did, he took anyone in as a friend so that they had one. Once you were In Drayke’s tribe you were there forever.
I can’t begin to express how thankful I am for my people, for the calls, the texts, all the messages. I try to respond, I do but I don’t know how right now. I will say hold you babies, hold them tight. Teach them to live and to love fierce.
Teach Kindness and #doitfordrayke“
Samie, we hear you, we hear your message and we’re so, so sorry for the loss of your beautiful boy. Bullying isn’t ok. It isn’t “kids being kids” and it isn’t something to be light-hearted or flippant about.
Dad says his son’s bully is also a victim
With a brave yet broken heart, Drayke’s dad Andrew told 9News that he believed his son’s bully was also a victim.
Deep down there’s something broken that this child took from my son, and it has to come from somewhere because … children aren’t naturally angry.So for him to have to attack my son to build his confidence means he was lacking something.So, in a sense, this bully was also a victim, and that’s where we need to find the solution is teaching our children that the world is broken, but they’re the generation that is going to fix it.
Talk to your children about bullying and being kind
Kids are never too young to feel helpless. Or hopeless. Or overwhelmed. And don’t ever be complacent and think it won’t happen to you. Because I’m sure, no one ever does think it will happen to them, or their family. Until it does.
Teach kindness, always, and that every action has a consequence.
The world of bullying is a scary one and all too often a silent one. As parents, we need to be aware of what’s happening at school as this can often be behind a child’s behaviour at home too.
Please read our previous posts on bullying, including:
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Even if a child has tears in his/her eyes and admits to being bullied, try as you might the child may refuse to tell the parent what happened or who the bully is. It doesn’t matter how many times you try to get answers over a few days, you may not succeed in having a conversation about the issue