BETHALTO, Ill. -- It's a discovery no parent wants to make.
Last week, Tammy Laycock of Bethalto, Illinois, found her son, Shane, hanging in their garage. The next day he was pronounced brain dead at the hospital.
"There was a piece of paper and an ink pen right by where he was at, but there was nothing written on it," she said.
Laycock can only speculate what the 11-year-old might have written as a final farewell to his loved ones.
Shane loved stuffed animals, airplanes and dreamed of one day serving in the armed forces. One of his favorite things was listening to his mom sing "You are My Sunshine" right before bed.
"He loved hugging. He loved snuggles at night," Laycock said.
But she believes deep down that it was a very difficult and private struggle that ultimately ripped him from her life.
"I'm going to miss his hugs and his smiles and everything about him. Everything about him for the rest of my life. All I have are pictures, but they don't hug," she said, holding back tears.
Shane was diagnosed with autism at an early age. He also had ADHD and other disorders that Laycock said made him an easy target for bullies.
"He was picked on, verbally picked on. He felt like he had no friends," she said.
The bullying, she said, went on for many years. And despite therapy and medication, she believed the isolation finally became too much to bare.
"A lot of it was frustration. Once frustration set in, it just built into anxiety. I believe he was thinking he could not take another day," Laycock said.
She and one of her other sons found his body after returning home from a walk. Laycock said she even tried to perform CPR before paramedics arrived. She says Shane was in the garage because it was a quiet place where he liked to calm down from his temper tantrums.
"He didn't like to be touched when he was upset. He liked to go be alone," Laycock said.
Now, with a new tattoo of his name over her heart, she wants to share his story so other lives are not cut tragically short.
"It's just not right. Kids should never feel that way. They should never feel like that is the way out," Laycock said.
Supporters will gather Saturday at noon for a memorial walk in Shane's honor. It steps off on Prairie St. near the Bethalto Police Department.
Laycock will be accepting donations to begin a scholarship fund for other families with autistic children.
Experts have said autistic children are at higher-risk for suicide because they are more prone to feelings of depression.