12-Year-Old Boy From Texas Hangs Himself After Battling Depression Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

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12-Year-Old Boy From Texas Hangs Himself After Battling Depression Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

In a recent report by his father, it’s now learned that Hayden Hunstable, a 12-year-old boy from Aledo, Texas, hung himself after battling depression amid the COVID-19 pandemic; what the father calls a “perfect storm for suicide and depression.”

Just three days before his 13th birthday in April 2020, Hunstable hanged himself, reportedly due to him not knowing how to deal with the isolation and growing depression caused by the worldwide shutdown from the coronavirus crisis.

Brad, the boy’s 42-year-old father of three, reports that his 9-year-old daughter, Kinlee, found her brother hanging in his bedroom. Heartbroken, he is now on a mission to try to prevent future suicides among the nation’s youth. He says, “COVID killed my son. I think Hayden would still be alive today if COVID had never happened. I had no idea he was struggling or depressed — he was such a happy kid and loved his friends and family. I think everything just got on top of him, he felt overwhelmed and he made a tragic decision.”

Brad, recalling the fateful day says, “It was a beautiful sunny day and I gave him a hug and a kiss on the head. Then when my dad left, there was just me, Kinlee and Hayden at home. There was only a 30-minute window, Hayden had gone upstairs. Then my daughter ran downstairs and said Hayden has hung himself. I ran up there, pulled him down and tried to save him. I performed CPR but I couldn’t save him. He was gone. I saw something horrific that day and I don’t wish it upon anybody. I still get nightmares about it.”