My Survivor Story
It was 1993, the summer before my senior year of high school. I was just an average happy and outgoing 17-year-old teenager. I had just been elected student council president and was on the drill team, life was good! I was with friends at a concert that day and was supposed to spend the night at my friend’s house. I instead decided to walk home because I wanted to sleep in my own bed.
Well… I didn’t make it home that night and in a matter of minutes my life was forever changed… I was violently attacked and raped by a complete stranger. I always considered myself “strong” and thought I’d be able to defend myself… Well, truth is, I attempted to fight and was threatened and held down. Unable to scream or fight back... I went into complete and utter SHOCK! After my attacker ran off, I immediately ran to the nearest home and banged on their front door. The next few hours were spent with the police and in the hospital. I spent months, years, and a decade fueled with anger and rage, wondering “why me” and if my attacker would ever be brought to justice.
My story is unique because several years of pain and not knowing had passed. There wasn’t a day of my life I didn’t think about it and wonder if he was attacking another woman or child. Then one quiet morning in 2006 (13 years after the attack), I received a call saying ‘Christy we got him’!! My attacker’s DNA was collected as evidence on that horrific night and stored in the FBI database CODIS (Combined DNA Index System) for years in hopes he would commit a future crime and his DNA would be collected. Well he did and it was! I was in complete disbelief and it didn’t seem real. The following months solidified how real it was!! I attended his sentencing hearing in 2007, so I could witness him being sentenced to prison and read my “Victim Impact Statement”. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison, it’s the only justice I will ever have. Every five years I write my letter to the parole board preaching my case as to why he should serve his full sentence…(He’s still in prison to this date of March 1, 2018).
For this survivor the justice system worked!
That one attack changed my entire perspective on life and my ability to protect myself.
It has been a healing journey since. The past 24 years have been about how I survived (and continue to survive), emotionally and physically every day! It’s why I have chosen certain career paths and why I’m passionate about helping other survivors heal. If sharing my story will help prevent or save one person, then it’s worth it! I know that sharing my healing journey will give a support group of survivors hope and a high school full of teenagers the mindset they need to change. There’s a voice in my heart that’s telling me it’s time to talk…I lived it. I survived it. Now I’m helping others survive, fight and prepare against it!”
My words are not just for women, but to the male survivors, husbands, fathers, and brothers out there! Please follow me on this next journey and help me empower & inspire women!
P.S... this picture is of me on top of a mountain the year my attacker was sentenced to prison!