The Story of Ryan Halligan

Have you heard of young teens committing suicide because of bullying and depression? Mr. John Halligan told RCMS a heartbreaking story about his son Ryan’s death due to these causes. He began with talking about the young childhood of Ryan Halligan. Ryan was just like everyone else, although he had special needs. Mr. Halligan and his wife cherished their son Ryan and their older daughter Megan. When Ryan joined Hiawatha Elementary School in kindergarten, he was put into Special Ed classes. He claims that Ryan had a hard time keeping up with everyone else, thankful was on the same level as his peers by 5th grade. Ryan’s parents were thrilled to hear this and hoped for a bright future for Ryan. Ever since that moment, Ryan was enrolled in regular classes but would struggle in class. In 5th grade, Ryan was getting bullied by a group of bullies. Then, it wasn’t really a major problem as they went to a therapist and got the problem situated. Ryan had a hard time transitioning from elementary school to middle school. He still had mediocre grades in school and was trying to keep up with everyone else.

Mr. Halligan recalls one evening in December 2002 where Ryan came home sobbing and asked his parents if they could home-school him or move to another neighborhood. It turned out that the kid that bullied Ryan in 5th grade was the one who was bullying him now. Ryan and his parents decided that Ryan should fight back the bullies so they wouldn’t bother him. Ryan and his parents then decided to get a Taebo Kickboxing Set to help Ryan get ready for a fight. They got the gift for Ryan on Christmas and Ryan and his dad immediately got to work. One day after school, Ryan and the bully got into a fight and each threw punches at each other before the assistant principal had to break up the fight. Surprisingly after the fight, Ryan befriended the bully who was fighting him. Ryan’s parents were shocked as they didn’t expect this to happen. Ryan continued his middle school years with some difficulty and Ryan’s parents decided that it was time to set some boundaries.

They said No IMing/chatting with strangers, No giving any personal information (name/address/phone) to strangers, No sending pictures to strangers and No secret passwords. They were really big on the last rule as you continue to read this article. Over the summer, Ryan was talking to a girl online with AOL. Ryan seemed to like her and apparently she liked him back. Little did Ryan know that she was just faking it. When Ryan entered 8th grade, he didn’t fit in at school and was a social outcast. He was getting bullied in person as well as online, and after a point, Ryan couldn’t handle the pain. After the messages kept pouring in and hurting Ryan’s feelings, Ryan committed suicide on October 7, 2003. Ryan’s parents couldn’t believe it. They were in tears along with Ryan’s sister Megan. Ryan’s dad went to everyone’s house he thought was a suspect but later went with the fact that Ryan was suffering from depression. We pay our tribute to Ryan and give our best wishes to Mr. Halligan and his family. Visit http://www.ryanpatrickhalligan.org for more information about Ryan’s story.

Halligan, John. Ryan Patrick Halligan. Digital image. RyanPatrickHalligan.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Nov. 2016