Actress desperate to raise $300,000 to ‘cryogenically preserve’ son’s body after tragic death

An Australian actress whose son died by suicide has explained her desperation to urgently raise $300,000 to “cryogenically preserve” his body.

An Australian actress whose 13-year-old son died by suicide has explained her desperation to urgently raise $300,000 within seven days to “cryogenically preserve” his body.

Clare McCann yesterday revealed to fans that her son Atreyu had taken his life last Friday after “months of relentless bullying”.

Her announcement on Instagram was accompanied by a link to an online fundraiser she had set up to fund cryopreservation of his body - a process she believes could offer the possibility of revival in the future.

“All I really need to say is how much I really need these funds to give my son what he wanted,” McCann told news.com.au.

“About six or seven years ago we started talking about the after life and heaven and I talked to him a little about cryogenics, and he told me he would like to do that.

“Over the years we talked about that that’s what we would want to do together, never separate. He deserves a second chance to live the life he wanted.

Clare McCann at a Sydney event …

And at the premiere of Annie the musical with son Atreyu.

“We would talk about maybe we would be revived in a future so far ahead that humans have the ability to swim under water with extended breathing with the dolphins and the whales, or fly, or live on another planted ... we would talk and dream about to so much.”

The fundraising page states that Atreyu “tragically took his own life” and that his mother is “urgently raising $300,000 to cryogenically preserve his body within the next 7 days — or the opportunity for him to live again will be lost forever,” she wrote.

At the time of writing, the GoFundMe has raised $3485 against its $300,000 goal.

McCann states that every dollar raised will go toward “immediate cryopreservation and legal transportation, required medical and legal services for the procedure” and “a trust in (Atreyu’s) name to protect his legacy. She says that any funds raised above the $300,000 goal will go towards anti-bullying education and reform.

Australia’s first cryonics facility, Southern Cyronics, opened for business in Holbrook last year, making headlines last May when a man in his 80s who had died in a Sydney hospital became the first “patient” to be frozen at the facility in the hopes of being one day revived via future technological advancements.

Clare McCann is urgently trying to raise $300,000 to preserve her son's body. Picture: gofundme

McCann said all she had left now was to “give him what he wanted” and “bring an end to this horrible system of bullying that is causing so much tragedy”.

She said her son was bullied from the day he started high school on February 7, having been home schooled up until high school.

“It was just relentless. He started to withdraw he wouldn’t speak to me about all the things but I was still advocating for him every day,” she said.

“They wouldn’t expel or suspend it’s wrong when there are so many incidents in schools. The school system fails children.

“The only comfort I can find right now is that this must have been our purpose.”

Mum ‘begged for help’ before son’s death

McCann told news.com.au she made repeated formal complaints about bullying to a Sydney school she says failed to protect her 13-year-old son Atreyu who she has now lost to suicide.

“He was just 13. He deserved a future. If the school and government had acted when I asked he might still be alive,” McCann told news.com.au.

McCann at 22 – she’s been working as an actress since the early noughties.

Clare said Atreyu died after ‘months’ of school bullying.

Atreyu was a student at South Sydney High School - best known as the filming location for the popular Netflix series Heartbreak High - when he suicided after “months of relentless bullying”, his mum said.

Despite repeated formal complaints to the school, the Department of Education, and Children’s Services, along with medical information and a confirmed PTSD diagnosis, no effective action was taken to protect her son, she said.

“I begged for help. I submitted complaints. I shared medical records. No one listened,” McCann said.

NSW Deputy Secretary of Public Schools Deborah Summerhayes said the department was “devastated to learn of the death of a student from a Sydney high school” and shared sympathies to family, friends, and the broader community.

“The Department of Education is providing counselling and other wellbeing support to students and staff who require it,” she said in a statement.

Deputy Premier and Minister for Education Prue Car said: “The death of Atreyu McCann is a tragic loss for his family, loved ones and the whole school community.

“No parent should go through the distress of losing a child in this way, and my deepest sympathies are with the McCann family at this difficult time,” she added.

The actress announced the heartbreaking news on Instagram yesterday, and in further updates revealed Atreyu had died by suicide on Friday.

“It’s with shattered hearts that we share the passing of my beautiful son, Atreyu McCann. He was the brightest light in my world — kind, creative, and endlessly loved,” McCann wrote on Instagram yesterday, sending shockwaves among her 62,000-strong following.

“Right now, we are grieving a loss that words can’t hold. Please give us time and space as we process this unimaginable pain.”

McCann is best known for her roles in the noughties Channel [V] shows Blog Party and Clublife and as an organiser of the Sydney international Women’s Film Festival.

She’s also a regular on the Sydney social circuit, often bringing her son with her to red carpet premieres for new movies and theatrical productions.

She gave further harrowing details of Atreyu’s death in another Instagram post shared overnight, describing the situation as her “worst nightmare.”

Clare and her young son were regulars at Sydney opening nights.

“It breaks my heart beyond what words can compare to share that in a moment of unbearable pain Atreyu took his own life. This was not his fault,” she wrote.

McCann said her son had “suffered horrendous amounts of bullying” and asked her followers to “help preserve” his life.

Who is Clare McCann?

Clare circa 2021... Picture: Christopher Khoury

...and at a more recent event.

McCann’s IMDB bio states that she was best known for her breakout role as “Cherry” on the Channel [V] series Blog Party, which aired in 2007 and won an ASTRA Award.

A year later she created the Channel [V] series ClubLife, which ran for eight episodes.

McCann’s more recent credits include the 2019 independent film Benefited, which she wrote, directed and starred in.

Her son Atreyu also appeared in that film, one of a growing list of on-screen credits the budding child actor had collected before his tragic death last week.

Originally published as Actress desperate to raise $300,000 to ‘cryogenically preserve’ son’s body after tragic death