A 13-year-old with cerebral palsy was bullied by "nasty" trolls who told him he shouldn't be playing football after posting a TikTok clip of himself in goal.
Rhys Porter, from Uxbridge, was sent horrific messages after sharing the footage of him at Feltham Bees, a disability sports club associated with Brentford FC, MyLondon reports.
His mother, Kelly Porter, 41, described some of the vile comments aimed at Rhys, saying it was really disturbing to see how many people were "willing to hurt" her son.
“Loads of people saying ‘why don’t you stand up? Oh, you can’t’ and ‘If you’re disabled, you shouldn’t be playing football'," Ms Porter explained.
"A big one that stuck in my mind was, 'Why have those parents put a disabled child on a pitch full of normal children?'
“In reality, we were at a disability tournament with a range of disabilities, some visible, some not visible.
“For me and dad… we knew that we couldn’t do anything physically about it.
“It was really frustrating… to see how many people were willing to hurt him.”
Fulham fan Rhys was born prematurely and has quadriplegic cerebral palsy, and developed epilepsy years later.
But far from succumbing to the vile abuse, "very strong and very resilient" Rhys raised above it all by launching a goalkeeping challenge to raise money and awareness for disability equality charity Scope.
“I didn’t have many followers on TikTok before I posted that video,” Rhys said.
“But then the day after that it went viral and then I received loads of fake comments.”
He added: "So basically throughout the Paralympics, every day I’m going to be making 20 saves a day.
“I also got my family… we’ve got everyone from cousins up to my nan, and we’re all going to do things like, I’m going to do 20 saves, and my nan’s going to walk around the block.”
Rhys said he had been targeted "a bit" by bullies in primary school, but said: “It’s never happened this much”.
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The efforts of the teen and his family will be part of Scope’s fully accessible virtual challenge Make It Count, which will take place in August and September alongside the Paralympic Games in Tokyo.
“The purpose of the event is so that people can be included,” said Kelly.
“It’s not about who can go the furthest… it’s about everybody being inclusive and being able to partake.
“We really, really want to raise awareness for the situation that Rhys has been through.”
To view Rhys’s fundraising page and to learn more, click here.
