The bullies wouldn’t stop. They drove 12-year-old Kelaia Turner to attempt suicide on March 28, 2023, by hanging from a noose she fashioned out of a belt. Her mother found her cool to the touch, her nose bleeding, and it took paramedics eight minutes to find a pulse or heartbeat.
Earlier this week, the family opened a GoFundMe account for Kelaia, now 14 and dependent on tubes to eat and breathe. Her parents recently lost their jobs and are having to deal with limited mobility, the lack of a wheelchair van and mounting financial stress.
“We knew that in going public, negativity would also be a part of the package,” Kelaia’s mother, Tyesha Turner, wrote Wednesday on her daughter’s GoFundMe page. “I pray for the hearts of those who were led to leave negativity on a plate already so full.”
“Those are the type of people I imagine parented the bullies of my child,” she continued. “I will take a lesson from Kelaia and focus on what Jesus would do. We will continue to be light in a dark place.”
Fortunately, the bullies have been overwhelmed by compassion. In just one day, the family has raised nearly $103,000 from more than 2,100 donors, far surpassing their modest goal of $15,000.
“Sending prayers and words of encouragement for God’s strength and love for you,” wrote one donor. “Be bold and strong for your daughter about bullying. No child deserves this and your public cry will matter. May Angels wrap around your whole family in protection from any hurt and may only mercy and love shine through. God bless!”
Kelaia suffered severe brain damage, is unable to speak, and still has no control over her body, Turner said. She requires around-the-clock care from her parents and a part-time nurse.
“We are fighting for Kelaia’s healing and well-being every day, believing that she has a purpose and that her story can inspire others,” her mother wrote on GoFundMe. “We are asking for your support to help her not only survive but thrive—through donations for a wheelchair-accessible van, medical needs, and home care. If you cannot donate, wearing butterflies in solidarity with her would mean the world.”
The family announced this week they were suing Kelaia’s teachers and the school district in Greenville County, South Carolina, for negligence in how they responded to the alleged bullying and harassment of their daughter.
The bullying dated back to 2021, when students called her “a man” and “a roach” in teacher Olivia Bennett’s class, according to their complaint.
“Ms. Bennett was complicit in the bullying and said nothing to the other students to stop it. One student asked, ‘Where’s the roach?’ and Ms. Bennett pointed to [Kelaia].”
The following May, the suit alleges, one of Kelaia’s classmates played a song and video on YouTube called “The Black People Song.” Teacher John Teer, a co-defendant, “allowed the song to be played without any comment on its offensiveness, nor any reprimand to or discussion with the student who played it,” the complaint says.
She was also called “Trans,” “Mustache Face,” “Nappyhead” and “Ugmo” in the presence of teachers and school staff members “with no repercussion,” despite the school’s “zero tolerance to bullying,” according to a Facebook post by Turner in October.
The bullying started in elementary school when Kelaia “began to wear her natural hair to school … and then increased in middle school, and began to have a stronger effect on her overall mind, personality, and well-being,” Turner wrote.
“Unfortunately, words do hurt,” Turner told WYFF. “I don’t think parents understand … how a child is received by their peers supercedes everything that you will teach them, that you will pour into them.”
Kelaia is expected to be permanently disabled and will likely have to undergo medical treatment, including therapy, for the rest of her life, the suit claims.
Greenville County Schools denied most of the plaintiffs’ allegations in its answer to the lawsuit.
