Category: lansing

There was a picture of him along with the headline. I had to pull my car over. I dry heaved in the street while sobbing uncontrollably. I was disgusted by myself and my body. I felt dirty and helpless, so very lost and so very sad.

Looking back I realize that he had scheduled these to continue the abuse. He had found a young girl in a vulnerable situation and intended to take full advantage of that situation.

The memory of what Larry Nassar did haunted me on a daily basis. I eventually quit gymnastics, never seeking another doctor to address my back pain. Even after my career in gymnastics was over I still thought about what had happened to me.

What he did to me has damaged my future as I do not find myself worthy of love. I see myself as damaged and tainted. Therefore, it has been hard to let someone else love me as I do not love myself.

Here I was a scared little girl in excruciating back pain, willing, begging even to suffer through for my sport. This grown man confidently offered me salvation, healing, and freedom, and I trusted him, but he turned out to be a monster.

But I just remember being in so much pain, tears streaming down my face, holding on to the table just shaking, and I felt like I didn’t — I didn’t know what to do.

He was someone we completely trusted. He was our friend, our neighbor, Lindsey’s friend, and her doctor. Someone who was so well respected by everyone we never second-guessed his intentions on our daughter.

How do I ever trust meeting new people after learning that someone I trusted for years has betrayed me and also took advantage of me? So why on earth would I ever trust anyone again?

I decided it was time to stand up to Larry Nassar and to those that enabled him to continue down this ravaging path of sexual abuse. Today I am here for me and to be an advocate for the women and young girls whose voices have been silenced for so many years.