Shayden Walker has now made friends all over the world.
The story of 11-year-old Shayden Walker from Amarillo, Texas, went viral after a video of him going door-to-door looking for friends was posted on TikTok, according to USA Today. The video was recorded by his neighbour’s front door security camera on July 3 when Walker stopped by and told him that he is looking for children his age. “Um, I just wanted to see if you knew any kids around like 11 or 12, maybe. I need some friends, like really bad,” the boy can be heard saying in the now-viral video.
His neighbour, Brennan Ray, responded via the security camera and told him there were some children nearby. But Walker told him, “They are not my friends anymore because they are bullies.”
During the conversation, Mr Ray told the boy that he has a daughter who is just a toddler. The boy immediately showed interest in playing with the baby, saying they are the “most cutest things”.
Mr Ray then posted the video on TikTok, hoping to connect with the boy’s family. The post amassed 69 million views.
Later, speaking to CNN about the bullying he faced, Walker said, “What my life was like before, was kids were manipulating me and telling me that they will be my friends, but when they asked me to do something horrible it’s just… I felt like they aren’t actually my friends.”
He choked up asking the reporter, “How would you like it if someone bullies you?”
His mother said Walker faced bullying because of his funny ways. “He flaps his arms and he makes noises due to which a lot of people made fun of him. So he told me ‘I just need the pain of just holding it in so that I don’t suffer’. That hurt, that broke my heart,” Krishna Patterson told CNN.
She also said that the boy was hospitalised because of isolation.
Mr Ray also set up a GoFundMe page to help his neighbours and even invited Walker to visit his home. The boy said he felt “pretty good” after the visit.
The page raised over $37,000 for Shayden to go towards whatever he wants, including a gaming setup, school clothes and amusement park tickets.
Walker has now made friends all over the world, including from Hawaii, China, Australia and England, said the USA Today report.