Our Story

Sun, 26 Dec 2010 01:28:58 +0100

July 2000....
Driving down the street with kids in our van, My 8 year old daughter asked a question no parents wants to hear.
The question you ask...
"Mommy why was uncle Ro.... on top of Ca....?"
My heart dropped and a cold chill ran down my spine. I knew what he had done. Our fight for her justice started that summer day. You always hear of these things happening and you always hope your child or loved one won't be that next victim.
I knew at that time I had to talk with her. I went to her house and took the kids to the park acting nothing was wrong. My heart was racing so fast, could I handle what she was about to tell me?
I set her down and asked her several question, I could see in her eye's how scared she was. She wouldn't talk about it, so how was I going to get her to tell me if this was happening or not?
I grabbed her hand and told her that is was ok. I'm going to help you, but you have to tell me if he is doing this to you. I explained that I understood how scared she was and all she had to do was squeeze my hand if he was hurting her.
I felt this squeeze and I grabbed her close to me and spoke these words.
I will come to you soon and tell you when it's safe to tell someone and I will be right there with you. I will make sure he never touches you again.
My mother and brother came a few days later, we came up with a plan and we got the kids out of the house. I told her that day was the day. We are going to take you to talk with a very nice lady and you need to tell her everything.
It took her a few hours, but with the support that she had she told the officer everything. It is so bad that I can't tell you everything that had been done to her, just know that it was the worst thing I could ever hear. Our fight for her justice took two years, but she finally got her justice. For two years my home was vandalized and I was threatened by his family, but I was determined to help her get her justice.
Then in 2009 my daughter came to me and told me that she had began to cut herself. I didn't understand, Why would she do this to herself? Of course I asked her why. She explained it to me as if it took all her inner pain away. I never knew she had any pain inside and I never knew she was cutting herself. Where did I go wrong?
We agreed that she would go into counseling and get the help that she needed. It was in counseling that we learnt that what she had saw effected her 9 years later, but was it 9 years later..NO.. She had been doing this for some time now, She just realized that she needed help. It was getting to hard to resist. I began to realize not only was my niece a victim of this mans, but now so is my daughter. I realized that child abuse doesn't only effect the victim, but those around the victim. I then made it my goal to do what I could do to help other victims who may need the help to get their lives back on track. You don't have to let this beat you, but you can beat all odds if you allow those who care about you help you when you most need it.
I learnt that life throws you lemons, but it's what you do with those lemons that make you who you are. I choose to take my lemons and turn it into what I now call sweet lemon aide.
The only question left is....What will you do with your lemons?

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Our Story