Disabled Girl Who Was Bullied by Trolls Has Died at Age 10, Mother Says

A file photo in a hospital. Gerry Broome/AP

A North Carolina mother said that her disabled daughter passed away at age 10.

Natalie Weaver told supporters via Twitter that her daughter, Sophia, died on May 23.

“Our #SweetSophia left this earth last night as she spent every day of her life, surrounded by love & adoration,” she said, writing that her the death left her family with a “shattering pain.”

On May 20, Weaver said her daughter “got really sick really quickly and I’m really scared.”

“I know my girl is a fighter and can pull through this. Please keep her in your thoughts and for those with a T-shirt please wear it to keep her heartbeat close to yours,” she added.

Weaver previously lashed out at trolls after people used an image of her daughter in a pro-eugenics message. Eugenics is a movement to selectively breed certain types of people while sterilizing others thought to be inferior. Nazi leader Adolf Hitler was the most infamous proponent of eugenics, leading to the Holocaust.

A person pushing eugenics sent a direct message to Weaver with a pro-eugenics message with a picture of Sophia illustrating the missive.

“It is okay to think that every child matters, however, a lot of them do not,” the message stated. “Hence the amnio test ... should be a mandatory test and if it proves negative and the woman does not want to abort then all bills accrued after that is on her and the father.”

Weaver reported the user but received a response from Twitter that the message didn’t violate rules.

“@TwitterSupport Just received an email that Twitter doesn’t think a person using my child’s image as the poster child to ABORT and to weed out all the ‘defectives’ in utero is a violation,” Weaver responded.

After weeks of back-and-forth, Twitter suspended the person who wrote the message.

Portions of Sophia’s face had disfigurements in addition to her hands and feet. She suffered from Type 1 diabetes and Rett syndrome.

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The syndrome “is a rare non-inherited genetic postnatal neurological disorder that occurs almost exclusively in girls and leads to severe impairments, affecting nearly every aspect of the child’s life: their ability to speak, walk, eat, and even breathe easily. The hallmark of Rett syndrome is near constant repetitive hand movements while awake. Cognitive assessment in children with Rett syndrome is complicated, but we know that they understand far more than they can communicate to us, evidenced by their bright and attentive eyes, and their ability to express a wide spectrum of moods and emotions.”