Girl posts tragic farewell before death
A mother has urged people with suicidal thoughts to seek help after her 16-year-old daughter left a heartbreaking farewell video on Youtube before taking her own life.
Maddie Yates posted the video and shared it through her Twitter page in the lead up to her tragic death, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported.
"I know that I'm going to hurt everyone who loves me," she said in the video.
"But I've been like this for so long, and there’s still a chance that the worst day might still be coming. And I just don’t see how this is a bad idea."
Maddie explained that she had been prescribed Prozac and was being treated for depression.
"I don't want anyone to feel like it was their fault. This was my decision, not yours. I’m the one who messed up, not you. There's nothing, literally nothing that you could have done," she said.
Maddie said she was "not a good person" and said she had felt like she had no other choice.
"You don't even want to know the things that I think... I'm doing literally the whole world a favour. But I love you, and I'm sorry. And I really, really love you," she said.
The video, which had been viewed more than 10,000 times in 24 hours since it was posted has since been taken down.
Little is known about how Maddie died, but her mother came out on Facebook urging others to seek help if they were having any suicidal feelings.
"I want you all to know the this was the worse thing she could have done," Maddie's mother said, adding that her final moments had been laughing with her family.
Maddie herself had spoken out against suicide, posting on Twitter last year: "If people who killed themselves could just see how everyone loved them, then maybe they'd take back what they did. But they can't."
She also tweeted in a different post: "The fact that suicide is an actual option for some people is what really breaks my heart."
The video was taken down by Youtube, but not before it had been shared around Louisville Male High School, where Maddie went to school.
The local school district blocked Facebook and Twitter for students in a bid to protect them.
"This was an effort to ensure that students who are emotionally impacted could get the help they needed as we worked with officials to address the situation through the most appropriate and efficient channels," the district said in a statement.
Grief counsellors had been provided to students to speak with.
Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.
