Over $100,000 has been raised for a child who had to have his finger amputated after he was terrorized by school bullies.
Raheem Bailey, 11, was chased, beaten, and kicked to the ground by a group of kids during break time at his school in Wales, his mother Shantal Bailey said. Shantal described how when he tried to escape over a fence, he got his finger caught and badly broken - leaving doctors with no choice but to amputate it.
In a GoFundMe set up by Shantal to help raise money for her son's prosthetic finger, the horrified mom described the incident.
"Raheem has faced racial and physical abuse, as well as more generic bullying about his height and other things, since he started secondary school in September 2021," she explained.
Shantal went on to explain that she hadn't realized the severity of the abuse until it was too late. "Although he had mentioned a few incidents of people being 'mean to him' recently, I did not realise the extent of what he was going through until an incident this week," she wrote.
"On Tuesday, Raheem was attacked by a group of children and beaten (mainly kicked) after being pushed to the ground. Consequently, Raheem made a desperate attempt to leave the school grounds in order to escape the situation," the mom explained.
"His finger got caught and attached to it, causing the skin to strip and the finger to break in half. After six hours of surgery to save it, which was ultimately unsuccessful, his finger had to be amputated," Shantal added.
Unsurprisingly, Raheem's injury meant he was faced with a lot of expensive medical treatment, as well as needing a good quality prosthetic tailored to fit him. To help cover the costs, his mom set up a GoFundMe.
"I’m fundraising to get my 11-year-old son, Raheem Bailey, a prosthetic finger and any additional cost to get him on the road to recovery," she wrote on the page.
As of today, over $100,000 has been raised to help the injured schoolboy get back on his feet after the traumatizing attack.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson from his local Learning Community assured Shantal that the incident was being thoroughly investigated.
"We are currently working closely with Gwent Police and the local authority to establish the full details of the incident," said a spokesperson for Abertillery Learning Community, per The Independent.
"The well-being and safety of our pupils and staff remains of paramount importance. We will not be commenting further at this time," they added.
Local police also confirmed they would be looking into the incident.
