'Bullied' boy, 10, on life support after trying to take his own life

The parents of a bullied 10-year-old boy who is brain dead and on life support after trying to take his own life have told of their grief.

Landen Lewis tried to take his own life in his bedroom after returning home from school in Nevada, Missouri, last Friday, the Daily Mail reports.

He gave no warning to his mother Britany and stepfather Jon about what he was planning and was even "giddy", they said.

Now, he is brain dead in the hospital. His parents are about to turn off his life support and say they will donate his organs to other children, something he'd expressed interest in in the past.

Since his suicide attempt, the family says they have been told by his friends that he was being "picked on" by teachers.

It is unclear how long after he tried to take his own life his parents found him.

Describing finding him, Britany said: "I was like no. It's not real. It's not real. All I could think was I've got to get him to breathe.

"I've got to get him to breathe."

Bryant Elementary School, where he was a student, has also been in touch to tell her that he had been in trouble repeatedly and was removed from class several times but teachers would not tell her why, she said.

"I didn't even know he'd been in trouble three times until the principal had called me and told me that she had pulled him out of class three times and wouldn't tell me why," his mother told Fox 4.

The boy's mother and stepfather have said repeatedly that he was bullied, though it is not clear if they mean he was victimized by school staff or by other children.

"My beautiful intelligent baby boy was an old soul, he would help anyone who needed help and would give you the shirt off his back.

"He wanted to take everyone's pain away and he wanted no one to feel alone.

"My baby was someone who could carry a conversation with you about the universe.

"What happened to my child could have been prevented had everyone just been nice to him once or twice," Britany said in a Facebook post on Monday.

She went on to say that while she did her best, the school "failed" him.

"As parents we trust a school to take our child for 8 hrs a day in these 8 hrs they are suppose to expand our child's mind and help them grow as little humans.

"The school failed my son and I pray no other child has to go through what my little precious boy has.

"Bullying is not okay no matter what age, and grown people should never bully a child.

"Love your babies hold them close and whisper a prayer that no child ever go through this," she said.

A spokesman for Bryant Elementary School did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com's inquiries on Wednesday morning.

They previously declined to go into details of the boy's death, telling Fox 4 they could not discuss them because they were limited by privacy laws.

According to his mother, Landen had once told that her that he wanted to donate his organs to other children if he ever died.

"His step dad made a joke that went like, 'I plan to use all of mine but they are welcome to whats left' when he put the organ donor on his driver's license and so Landen asked about it and after explaining it all to him, he said that if anything ever happened to him that he would want to donate to," she told DailyMail.com on Wednesday.

• Lifeline: 0800 543 354 (available 24/7)
• Suicide Crisis Helpline: 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO) (available 24/7)
• Youthline: 0800 376 633
• Kidsline: 0800 543 754 (available 24/7)
• Whatsup: 0800 942 8787 (1pm to 11pm)
• Depression helpline: 0800 111 757 (available 24/7)
• Rainbow Youth: (09) 376 4155
• Samaritans 0800 726 666
• If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111.