Trolls hijack facebook video of 4-year-old with dwarfism, mom fights back in epic way and wins



AUSTRALIA --  It was the simplest of moments, a small child pulling funny faces in the mirror.

That’s it.

But mom captured the whole thing on her smartphone and posted the short video on her private Facebook page.



Friends and family members commented and then somehow strangers found the video.

The comments turned ugly.  The little boy was called terrible names and trolls took such control of the video it started getting shared across Australia.

But this mom wasn’t any ordinary mom and her son wasn’t any ordinary little boy.

4-year-old  Quaden was diagnosed with a form of dwarfism when he was just three days old and so he looks a little different from many other kids his age.

His mom Yarrika had already started a small public Facebook page to raise awareness about her son’s condition to change the perception of dwarfism.

Yarraka began aggressively deleting the vile comments on the video.  But leveraging the attention to shift the conversation and fight back.

The hashtag #TeamQuaden was born.

Soon the national media in Australia took note and featured Quaden’s story.  Yarraka kept up the fight.  Posting inspirational messages on Instagram and Facebook.  Growing followers and raising the profile of the condition as she went.

Earlier this week the Daily Mail in the UK and Buzzfeed picked up the story and it instantly went globally viral.

"Thanks to the haters for all the attention because we now have more media coverage,” wrote Yarraka on Instagram.   “Out of your small negative minds is a huge positive for us as we are now reaching a lot more people thanks to the few fools out of a million.”

Q13 News spoke with Yarraka by email and she was thrilled the story had reached even Seattle.

“Anyone that passes judgement on people based on their physical appearance, let alone sweet innocent special needs kids should really take the time to get to know them first because I know they'll change your lives forever,” wrote Yarraka.