Meet Donna…she was your typical 15 year old girl.
She had fair brown hair and big brown eyes.
She had a smile that would make anyone smile along with her.
But…she was different.
She was wheelchair bound due to a car accident that happened when her father and her went on a road trip and they were side swiped by a drunk driver. She was lucky to survive…her father…wasn’t so lucky.
From the same accident, she sustained brain injuries which slurred her speech.
Donna was a victim of bullying.
She had been ever since she moved and went to her new school.
She was made fun of constantly.
She was told that she was stupid and retarded.
That she was a mistake.
That she should’ve been killed in that accident.
That she made all her injuries happen to her.
That she’s the reason she has no father now.
Donna did not tell anyone that she was being bullied like this.
And no one stood up for her.
No one wanted to be involved.
No one wanted to stand up for the crippled girl who couldn’t talk normal.
And the abuse didn’t stop out of school.
She was abused much worse online.
The same people who bullied her at school had spread lies about her online.
They said things such as Donna didn’t receive brain damage.
They claimed the truth was that Donna was a ‘crack baby’.
That her mother had done drugs and drank while she was pregnant with her.
It was not true.
Another said that Donna was dropped on her head.
It was not true.
Another said that Donna was an alcoholic and that SHE was the drunk driver that killed her father and made her crippled.
It obviously wasn’t true.
One day…Donna had enough…
She waited for her mother to leave to go to the store…so no one would try to stop her…
She wheeled herself to the kitchen…grabbed a steak knife from the cupboard…and ended it…
The people who bullied Donna had heard what had happened…and now live with that regret.
Donna’s name’s meaning is a title of respect.
Everyone is a Donna.
Everyone deserves respect.
No one deserves to be brought down to the point where they feel as if they need to kill themselves to end the suffering.
Please, stop the bullying.
Don’t be a bully.
And if you see someone being bullied, speak up.
Don’t just watch.
That is just as bad as being the bully.
It’s not tattle taling.
It could be saving a life.
~Bullying: Donna’s Story, by Sugar Heart
“The meaning of my work is to make the reality clear…that bullying of all forms is a issue that needs to be brought to attention. And what better way to do just that than to set a scenario that could really happen? No sugar coating on anything, just telling the story as it should be told: serious.”
You Will Rise Project 