If you or someone you know is in crisis, call 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call the network, previously known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, at 800-273-8255, text HOME to 741741 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional resources.
Terry Badger III’s parents see reminders of him everywhere: on their phones, where his sports practices still pop up in their calendars. In the neighbors’ basketball court, quiet without him shooting hoops there. Even in the sky: Terry went by the nickname “TB3,” and on the morning of what would have been his first baseball tournament of the season, curly wisps of clouds formed into a number three as the sun rose.
But there’s one place where the Badgers hope to never see reminders of their son: in any other young lives cut short by suicide.
Terry, 13, killed himself at home in Covington, Indiana, on March 6. In his final moments, his parents said, he recorded a video on his cellphone in which he named bullies at school and said they were the reason he was taking his own life.
Terry’s mother, Robyn Badger, was on a quick trip to the gas station when Terry died.
“It’s every day, continuous,” she said of the pain she has felt since. “I’ve lived that day every day.”
Terry’s death has galvanized support for an Indiana state bill that would create a statewide blueprint for schools to end bullying. The bill passed in the state House in February but had languished in the state Senate until Terry’s death put a renewed spotlight on it, with more than 86,400 people signing a change.org petition urging the Indiana General Assembly to take action as of Friday afternoon.
The bipartisan House Bill 1483 is now expected to become law as early as next week. It would require Indiana schools to notify the parents of a bullying victim within three business days that an incident has been reported and to notify the parents of an alleged bullying perpetrator within five…
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