Larimer County has seen 77 suicides this year, including three involving children under 18 
 
 Two middle school students in Fort Collins have killed themselves this month, part of an increase in suicides that puts Larimer County on pace to surpass last year's total. 
 
 The first student, a girl, died Nov. 16, according to the Larimer County coroner's office. The second, a boy, died Saturday. Both students were 11, the coroner's office said. 
 
 The office has not released the students' names. An obituary for a girl who appears to be the female victim says she was a sixth-grader at Lincoln Middle School. The boy attended Blevins Middle School, according to the Fort Collins Coloradoan, which first reported the deaths. 
 
 Their deaths put the total number of suicides in Larimer County at 77 this year, according to the coroner's office. Three of those deaths, including the most recent two, involved children under the age of 18. 
 
 Last year, Larimer County saw 83 suicides, including two by children under 18. That tally was a 25 percent increase over 2013's total and the most the county had seen in at least 10 years. December was the deadliest month in 2014, with 11 suicides, according to the coroner's office. 
 
 The Poudre School District has provided extra counseling services at the two students' schools, the district said in a statement Monday. Over the past five years, the district has boosted efforts to support student mental health, including providing students and staff with suicide-prevention training, according to the statement. 
 
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 In the girl's obituary, her family asks that donations be made to groups that work to stop bullying in schools. Authorities have not publicly confirmed that bullying was involved in either death. 
 
 "We must validate each other's feelings during this tragedy," the girl's family wrote in her obituary, "and help one another know that we're not alone in this world." ||||| Please enable Javascript to watch this video 
 
 FORT COLLINS, Colo. — An unthinkable tragedy in Fort Collins is bringing the community together after two children took their own lives in the past week. 
 
 The family of one of the victims said bullying took their young daughter’s life. They hope her story will help end bullying. 
 
 Children in an east Fort Collins neighborhood spent their Sunday evening holding a candlelight vigil and balloon launch in memory of classmate Ariana Cordova. The 11-year-old Lincoln Middle School student committed suicide last week. 
 
 “She started being bullied when she was in second grade,” her older sister Isabella Cordova said. “It wasn’t until she came home with a broken arm that we had to figure out what happened.” 
 
 The girl’s family said she showed signs of bullying and depression in the past. She was put through counseling and programs. Her sister said Ariana was not showing any signs of suicide before her death. 
 
 “There are people on her bus that said she was counting down days but she never let any of us know. She acted like everything was fine,” Isabella said. 
 
 Cordova is not the only one. A second Fort Collins middle school student also took his own life during the weekend. The11-year-old Blevins Middle School student died Saturday night. His family has asked to keep his identity private. 
 
 The two deaths are raising new questions about the way schools handle bullying. 
 
 Cordova’s family said Lincoln Middle School was very good at handling situations where Ariana did not feel comfortable, including allowing her to take a course online. Isabella said more still needs to be done though. 
 
 “I feel like it’s really bad, but it kind of goes unnoticed because there are all these signs and slogans saying no bullying, this is a no bully school, but overall nothing has changed. Everybody says what they want to say and do what they want to do without getting in trouble for it,” she said. 
 
 She does not think more punishment for bullies is necessarily the answer though. 
 
 “Those people are always going to have to live with that guilt on top of them and have the burden of what they said and what they did and I don’t think the best way to get that across is to make them feel that same way too because it’s just this endless cycle that needs to stop,” Isabella said. 
 
 Ariana’s family now hopes their story will be a wake-up call for schools to implement real changes and serve as a message to other kids that asking for help is always the right answer. 
 
 “If they’re not going to listen to me then imagine my little sister dancing in the sky wherever she is looking down on you saying that it’s going to be OK. You can make it through this,” she said. 
 
 There will be a candlelight vigil for both young people Tuesday from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. outside Colorado State University’s B.W. Pickett Equine Center in Fort Collins. 
 
 The families are raising money to cover unexpected medical and funeral costs: 
 
 Suicide and bullying resources ||||| Please enable Javascript to watch this video 
 
 DENVER -- A Denver mom wants to shine a light on bullying and suicide after the death of her son last week. 
 
 The woman said her son killed himself in their home on Thursday. He was 9 years old. 
 
 Leia Pierce says bullying was a factor in the death of her son, Jamel Myles. He started fourth grade at Joe Shoemaker Elementary School on Monday. 
 
 Over the summer, his mom said he came out to her as gay. 
 
 "And he looked so scared when he told me. He was like, 'Mom, I’m gay.' And I thought he was playing, so I looked back because I was driving, and he was all curled up, so scared. And I said, 'I still love you'," Pierce said. 
 
 Pierce said her son wanted to tell his classmates. 
 
 "He went to school and said he was gonna tell people he’s gay because he’s proud of himself," she said. 
 
 Pierce said when he came out, he opened up about wanting to dress more femininely. 
 
 "And he goes, 'Can I be honest with you?'" Pierce said. "And I was like sure, and he’s like, 'I know you buy me boy stuff because I’m a boy, but I’d rather dress like a girl.'" 
 
 On Thursday, four days into the school year, Jamel took his own life. Pierce found her son dead in their Denver home. She said he killed himself after being bullied. 
 
 "Four days is all it took at school. I could just imagine what they said to him," Pierce said. "My son told my oldest daughter the kids at school told him to kill himself. I’m just sad he didn’t come to me." 
 
 A letter from Denver Public Schools to families sent Friday said it's providing extra social workers and its crisis team for students. 
 
 "I’m so upset that he thought that was his option," Pierce said. 
 
 In the statement, the district said it will continue to offer support to the family. 
 
 Through the devastation, Pierce wants to spread awareness about the effects of bullying. 
 
 "We should have accountability for bullying. I think the child should. Because the child knows it’s wrong. The child wouldn’t want someone to do it to them. I think the parent should be held because obviously the parents are either teaching them to be like that, or they’re treating them like that," she said. 
 
 She said she hopes no parent ever has to go through this pain because their child is different from everyone else. 
 
 The Denver Police Department is investigating the death as a suicide. 
 
 Suicide resources 
 
 If you or anyone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts or depression, the following resources are available: 
 
 National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (800-273-8255): Speak with someone who will provide free and confidential support 24 hours a day, seven days a week. To learn how to help someone in crisis, call the same number. 
 
 Colorado Crisis Services Hotline (1-844-493-8255): If you are in crisis or need help dealing with one, call 1-844-493-8255 or text “TALK” to 38255 to speak to a trained professional. When calling Colorado Crisis Services, you will be connected to a crisis counselor or trained professional with a master’s or doctoral degree. 
 
 The Trevor Project (1-866-488-7386): A 24/7 resource for LGBT youth struggling with a crisis or suicidal thoughts. The line is staffed by trained counselors. 
 
 Colorado Crisis Services Walk-In Locations: Walk-in crisis service centers are open 24/7, and offer confidential, in-person crisis support, information and referrals to anyone in need. 
 
 Colorado Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline: (1-844-264-5437): The best resource for readers to report suspected child abuse and neglect. 
 
 The number serves as a direct, immediate and efficient route to all Colorado’s 64 counties and two tribal nations, which are responsible for accepting and responding to child abuse and neglect concerns. All callers are able to speak with a call-taker 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
– These are troubling times for parents in Fort Collins, Colo., where two 11-year-old children took their own lives within days of each other. The suicide of a girl in sixth grade at Lincoln Middle School last Monday was followed by the Saturday night suicide of a boy who attended Blevins Middle School. Both schools are in the Poudre School District, and authorities are investigating whether the two deaths are linked, reports the Coloradoan. The girl's family says she suffered from bullying and depression, but one of the boy's friends tells the Coloradoan that he was a well-liked prankster; the classmate doesn't believe the boy was bullied. A police spokeswoman tells the Coloradoan that they have "not received any information that bullying was a contributing factor in either incident." But the girl's older sister tells KDVR that the 11-year-old had been bullied since the second grade and the family didn't discover it until she came home with a broken arm. She says the family wants the death to bring about changes in how schools deal with bullying—and to send the message to bullied children that they should always ask for help. "If they're not going to listen to me, then imagine my little sister dancing in the sky wherever she is looking down on you saying that it's going to be OK. You can make it through this," she says. The Denver Post reports that Larimer County has logged 77 suicides year-to-date, including these two and one more of a child under age 18. The year prior, there were two under-18 suicides in the county. (Read about how a mother survived her son's high-profile suicide.)