Dad shares photos of daughter to stop bullies
TEENAGER DIED FOLLOWING SUICIDE ATTEMPT AFTER BEING SUBJECTED TO ONLINE BULLYING
A BRAVE dad has shared heartbreaking photos of his dying daughter in a hospital bed after online bullying drove her to try to kill herself.
Julia Derbyshire died aged 16 in October, 2015 – five days after attempting to take her own life.
Dad Adrian Derbyshire, 42, found the teenager collapsed at his home in Warrington, Cheshire, and raced her to hospital before being forced to make the agonising decision to turn off her life support.
To mark what would have been her 18th birthday, the two-time Paralympic gold medal winner and anti-bullying campaigner made the heartwrenching decision to share heartbreaking photos of Julia lying in her hospital bed.
Adrian has been unable to look at the photos in the 17 months since Julia died, but decided to share them in a bid to boost the antionline bullying campaign he set up in her honour, #SASSY (Support Against Self-harm And Suicide in Youth).
Adrian said: “Releasing these photos was one of the hardest things I have had to do in my life.
“I took the photos in the minutes before Julia’s death and buried them on my phone until now because I didn’t want to look at them and I still don’t. But I knew that I was going to use them, obviously to help raise awareness, because I think that the cause is too vital to not use them.”
Julia was born in the UK before making the move to the US aged four, but she moved back to Warrington 10 years later after suffering problems with online bullying and self-harm.
Adrian began to incorporate his daughter into his Inspire Belief Succeed campaign that works with children to help them prosper through sport. But the devoted dad was unaware his daughter was still being targeted by online abuse and used a false identity in web groups that promoted teenage self-harm and suicide.
Tragedy struck when Adrian discovered the youngster collapsed at their family home and he frantically fought to save her life, giving her CPR before rushing her to hospital. Julia lost her battle for life five days later.
Coroners record a narrative verdict at the inquest into Julia’s death.
Adrian recovered from a brain haemorrhage in 2008 that confined him to a wheelchair before he took up wheelchair fencing with Team GB.
He is raising awareness of online bullying and mental health in youths using the Twitter account @TheJDCampaign.