Check Out Samantha Boyle’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Samantha Boyle.

Hi Samantha, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My story takes place a little over five years ago. I was a single mom to three amazing children. We were on the other side of a very nasty divorce. The worst was behind us. We were very close because of what we went through. My kids are my life. We called ourselves “The Fearless Foursome”… everyone was enjoying summer break, and my oldest had just graduated 8th grade and was extremely excited to attend high school. Luken was 14, my second son, Leyton was 11 and my daughter Avery had just turned 9.

The date our lives came to a crashing halt was July 31, 2017. I got a phone call from a concerned parent letting me know that a classmate of Luken’s had been viciously bullying a female classmate, sending her awful hateful messages and even going as far as getting two other classmates to take a picture of themselves pretending to be hanging by their necks, sending it to her telling her that’s what she needed to do to herself. When the female classmate told her parents what was being sent to her, she also divulged that Luken was being catfished by the same classmate who was bullying her. The young man posed as a 13-year-old girl pretending to like Luken and lured him into sending some inappropriate pictures.

The parent who called me wanted me to know that the classmate was making fun of Luken and letting other kids know how he could trick Luke into sending those types of pictures. I took Luken aside from all the other kids at our house that day and asked him about all of the info I had just received. Luken had no idea he was being tricked. He thought the 13-year-old girl was real up until I told him she wasn’t and that his “friend” he grew up with was behind it all. Luke was upset. He couldn’t understand why someone would do that.

Luken was a special young man. He was kind and compassionate and loved everyone. He was always complimenting people and was a friend to everyone. He couldn’t stand to see anyone sitting alone. He was truly wise beyond his years and had a heart full of joy and he loved his family beyond words…. after Luken and I talked and I told him I would take care of things, and reassured him everything would be okay, his sister and I left to run errands and his brother went to a friend. Luken seemed fine when we left. He told me “love you mom” as I walked out the door.

My daughter and I came home about 45 minutes later. She wanted to go swimming so I told her to go get Luken to swim with her. She ran upstairs. I was changing because I had decided to go swimming as well. She yelled down to me that Luke was sleeping funny, so I said to wake him up…. then she said “he’s got something around his neck and he’s drooling”…. panic struck me and I ran upstairs to find my beautiful boy hanging from his bunk bed. I took him down and started CPR while calling 911. I sent Avery down to unlock the door and told her not to come back up as I didn’t want her to see any more than what she already had.

My life as I knew it became a living nightmare. Luken wasn’t bullied regularly. He was handsome, well-liked, smart, and athletic and never once had ever indicated that he had thought about suicide. He didn’t have any mental health issues. It completely shocked me. There was no warning. When writing the obituary I was open about what happened. The news did a story with the headline “14-year-old takes his life due to cyberbullying “… I realized that this was so much bigger than me or Luke. We had to do something about the problems our youth face every day.

Cruel pranks and bullying are everywhere. I started the Luken T. Boyle Campaign for Kindness to raise awareness and share Luken’s story. Teach kids what they can do to promote kindness and compassion instead of bullying. They all know they shouldn’t bully, so what can they do? I wanted our Campaign to focus on teaching them what it truly means to be kind. I have spoken at so many schools I’ve lost count. We also have started to put Kindness Rooms in schools.

We provide all the materials students need to create beautiful cards and paper crafts to start them thinking about doing for others. That is just one aspect of what the Room provides. We make over the rooms at no cost to the schools. The Kindness Rooms are a safe space for kids to go throughout their day if they are struggling. Luken’s legacy will live on through this Campaign. I had to do something to try to keep this from happening to another family. I’m honored to tell his story and share what an amazing young man he was.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It’s been pretty smooth. We are learning a lot as we go. It’s been a natural progression into what we are doing now. The speaking engagements can be challenging for me. I don’t follow a script. I speak from the heart at every school I go to. Very informal. I still tear up when telling the story.

It takes a lot out of me so I try to keep speaking engagements to one a day and spread them out a little. Overall, I’m blessed to have an amazing support system and a Board of Directors who believe in the Campaign’s mission and support me 100%.

Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
Toledo looks out for their residents. When tragedy strikes the community comes together. We are strong and proud. I love our City. Born and raised here and have lived here my whole life.

I moved away a couple of times, briefly, but always felt compelled to come back. It’s a good-sized city, but somehow we all seem to be connected and there’s a “small town” feel that I love. Toledo has been a huge supporter of the Luken T Boyle Campaign for Kindness and I’m so grateful for that.

Contact Info:

Website: luken4kindness.org