Why I Support RAINN: I am the youngest in a family of twenty children, all by the same two parents. I survived multiple incidents of incest and sexual assault; my mind was pretty much destroyed by the time I left home. I escaped into a disasterous marriage, admitted my self over the years to five different mental hospitals, (I am now 54 years old)believing I was crazy. I lost my marriage and my children, began drinking, landed in AA in the fall of 1988, and began recovery in 1990 at the Rape Crisis Center in Daytona Beach, Florida.
My siblings and I were separated by the abuse and the decree of silence handed down from Mother; I have been away from family for the better part of thirty years, until in 2006 I returned home to Upstate NY.
I feel as though I have sisters and brothers for the first time ever. Many of us are comunicating for the first time, thus getting to know each other in ways never before possible. We get together and laugh and cry and laugh some more.
Sadly there are still some who would rather live in the silence than participate, and three of my siblings have died.

I love this picture of me in the sunflowers; it is a representation of how far a person can come when resources are available to help. My life is still difficult sometimes, especially when it comes to rebuilding a relationship with my children, who suffered terribly from my mental difficulties. (I have PTSD and am Bi-Polar) I am very grateful that I was given the opportunity to begin to live a more settled life.