Survivor Stories

BillieWeb

Angela

Don’t give up; because, there are other people that need you. We need you, we need you to come forward and stand up together and say no more.

Frankie

Telling your story is very therapeutic. Helping others is very therapeutic. Don’t run from your past and avoid the pain.

Paulissa

Don’t let your truth get caught in your throat. Don’t let it become the unheard scream. The power of the pain lessens each time we tell our story. You’re going to be uncomfortable, but at that same time, if you tell your truth, it’s going to help someone. There’s someone that needs to hear your voice. They need to know that they’re not alone. They need to know that they’re enough. That what happened to them is not the totality of who they are.

Alyssa

Everybody deserves to mourn what they’ve lost when this happens to them, but don’t give up. If you give up hope, then you’re letting that person have power over you longer. What they’ve done to you, you’re never going to just forget about it.   But you have to have hope that things will get better, and you have to try to make them get better. If you give up, they win. And you really don’t mean anything, if you don’t think you mean anything.

Angela

I was kidnapped from a parking lot in broad daylight the summer after I graduated from high school. He threw me in his car, after driving for however long, he sexually assaulted me. What happened to me, I wouldn’t wish on anybody, but I would never change it. It helped me realize this inner strength that I never even knew existed. I feel like because of what I went through, there isn’t anything that I can’t get through. I have this incredible gratitude for life,

Emily

Victims are usually victims because they put themselves on the line. They allow themselves to love people or be there for people. Be proud of yourself for being a victim, is what I’m trying to say, because it takes a lot of strength to have gotten to that situation in the first place.

John

My father said that he saw the rape, didn’t stop it. Years after that, my dad used to call me faggot. There’s nothing wrong with being gay, but I’m not gay. I was confused and part of me died that day. After my fourth suicide attempt, I realized that life’s not over until God says it’s over. I was going to be a survivor if I wanted to or not, so I’d better get on with the business of living.  

Kate

There was one part where I just blacked out, and I don’t remember anything until I woke up the next morning in bed. There was blood on my sheets. I thought about (going to the police) a little bit, but I didn’t think I’d have much of a case, because I’d been drinking. I went to my mom and told her about it. She helped me understand that it wasn’t my fault.

Renee

I was 18, and he was my best friend. He kept saying, “You want this, you want this, I’ll be gentle I promise.” I left with bruises from chafing, from his hands holding both my wrists down. Six years after it happened, I went to “Take Back the Night” (an event that supports survivors of sexual violence) and I decided -- you know what? I’m going to face this. I am a rape survivor. I’m not a victim anymore. I see no shame in what happened; he should be ashamed.

Sarah

Not many people know I’ve been raped or beaten within inches of my life, but the more awareness you can get out there, that it’s not okay, the better. That’s part of the healing process, opening up about it.

Victoria

There’s so much love and I hope every victim understands that. There is too much genuine love and genuine compassion and genuine concern between human beings for them to let one incident dictate their future or lack there of. This is not an opportunity to go down, never has been. I’m just really happy to be alive and I hope that someday every victim gets to a place where they’re just like every thing’s going to be Okay. Cause it is.