ROSS, Ohio -- An area teen said her online cry for help saved her life and gave her hope for the future.
“Most of the time, on a daily basis, I get called fat, a whore, a slut, fake, skank, ugly,†CourtneyLyn Bacher said in a video she posted online. “I have 83 scars on my body that are self-inflicted; I have six cigarette burns where I've put them out on my body to make me feel that I am alive.â€
The 17-year-old said she’d lost her will to live after another hurtful comment she received this week.
“I received a text on my phone that said I should do the world a favor and take a 9mm to my head and pull the trigger,†she said.
Bacher said she contemplated taking her own life, but a friend encouraged her to talk about her feelings.
So the Ross High School senior recorded an impassioned plea that quickly spread far beyond her hometown after she posted the video on YouTube.
“No one has ever listened to my opinion,†Bacher said. “What I said on Facebook, and then now for once, someone listened.â€
She’s received hundreds of supportive messages from friends and strangers from all over the country, as well as some apologies from students who’d tormented her.
“My eyes got all watery, because it means so much because of who it was from,†Bacher said.
Bacher said she’d never told her parents, teachers or other adults about what she’d been going through, and educators said students must reach out for help.
“That's the message we want to get out to students, is that we can't read your minds; we don't know everything,†said Rick Pate, assistant principal at Ross.
The school district plans to work with Bacher to produce another video on the impact of bullying.
“I think that's going to be the big message I'm going to push in the video, is one person can't solve this,†Pate said.
Bacher had said in her video that her message would change nothing, but it quickly changed her outlook on life.
“I never thought I had a purpose, and now I do,†Bacher said.
“Most of the time, on a daily basis, I get called fat, a whore, a slut, fake, skank, ugly,†CourtneyLyn Bacher said in a video she posted online. “I have 83 scars on my body that are self-inflicted; I have six cigarette burns where I've put them out on my body to make me feel that I am alive.â€
The 17-year-old said she’d lost her will to live after another hurtful comment she received this week.
“I received a text on my phone that said I should do the world a favor and take a 9mm to my head and pull the trigger,†she said.
Bacher said she contemplated taking her own life, but a friend encouraged her to talk about her feelings.
So the Ross High School senior recorded an impassioned plea that quickly spread far beyond her hometown after she posted the video on YouTube.
“No one has ever listened to my opinion,†Bacher said. “What I said on Facebook, and then now for once, someone listened.â€
She’s received hundreds of supportive messages from friends and strangers from all over the country, as well as some apologies from students who’d tormented her.
“My eyes got all watery, because it means so much because of who it was from,†Bacher said.
Bacher said she’d never told her parents, teachers or other adults about what she’d been going through, and educators said students must reach out for help.
“That's the message we want to get out to students, is that we can't read your minds; we don't know everything,†said Rick Pate, assistant principal at Ross.
The school district plans to work with Bacher to produce another video on the impact of bullying.
“I think that's going to be the big message I'm going to push in the video, is one person can't solve this,†Pate said.
Bacher had said in her video that her message would change nothing, but it quickly changed her outlook on life.
“I never thought I had a purpose, and now I do,†Bacher said.