11-year-old Brady Grese isn’t allowed to have his own Twitter account, but he created one anyway.
On Monday, he tweeted out his first message and kept it a secret from his mom, Darla, for a couple of days.
The Ocean Lakes Elementary School student confessed this week why he did it- to help a friend who was being bullied.
“He said…just read it,” said Darla. “Then I put the phone in front of me and I read the tweet.”
In the tweet, Brady explains that suicide is not a joke. He also said that his friend was told to commit suicide and urged him to stay positive.
But there was more to his suicide prevention tweet.
Brady’s aunt Kelli, Darla’s identical twin sister, took her own life back in 2010.
“Brady, unfortunately, had to grow up watching me grieve,” said Darla. “He’s grown into such a mature child because of that.”
“Whenever people talk about suicide, it hits me harder than other people,” said Brady. “They don’t realize the seriousness of it.”
It’s that connection to his aunt that inspired Brady to stick up for a friend that day, even if it risked him getting into trouble.
“I went from initially being frustrated [at him] for creating a Twitter account to hugging him,” said Darla. “I was proud of him.”