CINCINNATI — The grade-school bullies called him so many names he wanted to die.
"Stupid," ''Freaky," ''Retarded" and "Trashcan" were the kindest things they said to their fifth-grade classmate, Josh Frey. The cruel words upset the 11-year-old Mason boy so much he refused a kidney transplant.
Josh needs that operation. His end-stage renal disease requires daily dialysis.
The bullying accelerated in January. Josh was so down in the dumps he didn't want to go to school.
He discussed his depression with his doctor, Rene G. Van De Voorde III. The medical director of Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center's dialysis unit volunteered to go to Josh's school, Stewart Elementary in Sharonville.
He talked to Josh's fellow students, bullies included. No one mentioned the b-word.
Instead of talking about bullying, he told them what it is like to be Josh, to be poked with lots of needles and never cry, to take seven different kinds of medicine and never complain. And to be connected to a dialysis machine every night when he goes to bed.
"No big deal," Josh says. "It's just another IV needle."
After the doctor's visit, Josh's classmates called him by another name: "Brave."
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