CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas \u2014 More than a decade after losing his son to suicide, Mingo Molina has replaced a memorial sign along Waldron Road in Flour Bluff to continue raising awareness about bullying and mental health.<\/p>\n
Molina said his son, Teddy, was bullied from a young age, with the harassment getting worse once he reached high school.<\/p>\n
Father replaces memorial sign for Flour Bluff teen lost to suicide, continues push for anti-bullying awareness<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was Asian and Hispanic. A lot of kids kind of poked at him for things like that,\u201d Molina said.<\/p>\n
Teddy Molina died at just 16 years old on April 1. 2012.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt got really bad. He couldn\u2019t take it any longer. One day he went into his room and pulled out a hunting rifle and took his life,\u201d Molina said.<\/p>\n
Molina said the pain from that day has never gone away.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomething you can never prepare yourself for,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He also said the tragedy affected other parts of his life, including his marriage. He and his wife are now separated.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen something like this happens you have no idea what to do or how to act. I made some bad decisions and it tore us apart. I just hope that one day we can reconcile,\u201d Molina said.<\/p>\n
Despite the hardship, Molina said his main goal is to use his son\u2019s story to create change and prevent other families from experiencing the same loss.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of people that are outraged by the way kids are treated, but nothing is being done about it. It\u2019s going to take the parents getting behind the kids and rally together and make some changes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
When Molina noticed the original memorial sign had begun to deteriorate after more than 10 years, he decided it was time to replace it.<\/p>\n
When asked what he hopes people think when they see the sign, Molina said, \u201cHopefully they think about their child in school, and whether they\u2019re being bullied or what\u2019s going through their head, and if they\u2019re OK.\u201d<\/p>\n
Molina said his final message to the community comes from Luke 6:31: Do to others as you would have them do to you.<\/p>\n
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