Mom speaks out after 10-year-old son kills himself after being bullied for using a colostomy bag

A mother from Louisville, Kentucky, Tami Charles, is speaking out to raise awareness for bullying.

Her 10-year-old son died by suicide after he was relentlessly bullied for wearing a colostomy bag.

The devasted mother said her son underwent 26 surgeries over the past ten years and added: "He just wanted to be normal, that's all."

The boy took his own life while his father was attending church choir practice and his mother was grocery shopping.

Charles said that her son was a victim of bullying and racial slurs at his tender age. When he refused to be provoked by the N-word, he was choked.

By speaking up, she hopes that his story will make bullies "reconsider picking on others, and hopefully, make the world a little bit kinder."

His mother said the image of him chocking is burned into her brain. She now intends to take legal action. Charles explained:

“The balls that were dropped, it wasn’t that (the school board) didn’t have these tools, they just weren’t at our school. It wasn’t that they didn’t have these tools to help the victims of bullying, they just weren’t there. They weren’t used.”

By speaking up, she hopes that his story will make bullies "reconsider picking on others, and hopefully, make the world a little bit kinder."

Teen suicides are on the rise. In Australia, five Aboriginal children have taken their life after bullying and racist attacks became too much to bear.

A 14-year-old girl, Rochelle Pryor, left a heartbreaking message about bullying on social media before taking her life.

Rochelle Pryor wrote that the bullying and the racism would stop once she's gone. Only one friend responded to the post.

Three suicides were recorded in Western Australia: one in Queensland and one in South Australia. One 12-year-old boy from Brisbane also attempted suicide.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. Other international suicide helplines can be found at befrienders.org.