“I heard him say the words, ‘I’m going to get you out of this.’ I don’t know why I believed him, but I showed up to his office the very next week. My life has never been the same since.”
‘I was young when I met my husband. Much younger than I should have been, given his older age. His steady job, quiet apartment, and vows of unconditional love lured me in.’
‘I asked a friend to hold my drink while I went to the restroom and she set the drink down. We always stuck together but my friend went home with a guy, breaking our agreed upon friend code.’
“Finally, after a long ten year battle, and a few amazing people, I urged the police department to re-open my case.”
‘I found out I was pregnant. My ex-boyfriend refused to believe the baby was his. We tried to come to a resolution, but within a month, he was found dead in his bed.’
“I had my first serious boyfriend. He was older. That is the night my destiny changed. I became very ill the next week. I had a severe fever, so physically exhausted I couldn’t even get out of bed.”
‘He came back into the house with a loaded gun. He demanded I open my mouth. He smirked and said ‘I won’t regret this.’
“I asked my husband for a divorce. I found out he was still having an affair, and I was done. He shoved me onto the couch, and started choking me. I gave in. I opened my mouth and he shoved the barrel as far into my mouth as he could. I said goodbye to my kids.”
‘I ran 2 miles, barefoot, to the police station, with my husband chasing me. It was 28 degrees outside. I ran those two miles for my life.’
“I woke up the next morning and couldn’t remember how all that blood had gotten on my pillow. I couldn’t move my legs, and my ears were ringing. I tried to sit up, and that’s when I knew something had happened.”
‘I got there and he was asleep on the couch. I tried waking him up. He would barely open his eyes. I picked him up – I knew something was wrong.’
“I asked him what happened. I couldn’t believe it. These people were our ‘friends’ and have children of their own. I couldn’t wrap my head around someone wanting to hurt my son.”
‘If she says mama, I won’t be able to go through with it.’ She never told him she was pregnant with me. To this day, he has absolutely no idea I exist.’
“I never would have imagined the child we adopted would have a story so shockingly similar to my own. I never imagined it would be my own cousin. I never imagined it would be my biological mother who would play such a pivotal role in all of it.”
‘A well-dressed man approached me. He offered to take me to eat. I got in his car and he drove me to a wooded area. He raped me all night. This is how I lost my virginity.’
“I was sent to live with my mother’s parents. My grandmother was a functional alcoholic. My grandfather was a child molester. This marks the beginning of my running away from home.”
‘When my son was 10 months old, I fell in love with a guy who I thought was the one. The one I was positive I was going to marry. Everything was so great – or so it seemed.’
“Motherhood for me wasn’t the typical falling in love and making a baby. In my case, I was a 20-year-old living in a new city, who got drugged, sexually assaulted and pregnant. ‘Why did you keep the baby?’ Well, let me tell you… This baby was a MIRACLE.”
‘I found out months before meeting Jorgie we were unable to have biological children. We were devastated. We just couldn’t understand at the time. Until we met him.’
“Taylor was 10 months old when she was shaken and abused. They called again, but this time it was for a 2-month-old baby girl born addicted. Everyone thought we were crazy for considering another child with so many needs, but if not us, then who?”
