Category: statement

However, in November when I sat at home with my hands shaking while watching the live feed in the first hearing you presided over I heard the most interesting, powerful words come from your mouth. You said that you wanted every girl to heal and you would let us take as long as we needed to all come forward and speak out.

You took something from me that can never be replaced, can never be changed, can never be forgiven, and that was my youth and innocence. You took advantage of me when I was most vulnerable, when I was most afraid, and when I was most trusting.

Throughout society we were taught to trust doctors. As your former patient I trusted you, Larry. I trusted you as a doctor to help me. Instead of helping me, you sexually abused me under the guise as my doctor.

The number of people whose lives you altered does not stop with the victims. It has also impacted the people closest to us in our lives. We have no choice but to watch them suffer from this too. Our mothers and fathers who wanted the best for us, our spouses and partners, our friends, all of us with so many people, for what?

Your Honor, Mr. Nassar sexually abused me over a number of years beginning when I was a young teenager. He broke me. He stole my innocence and exploited it for his own sick satisfaction.

I thought the women that reported the sexual assault must be mistaken. Even though I did not know this at the time, I had also gone through the same abuse beginning when I was 15 years old. Today I know I was in the first stage of grief, denial.

Over the past 16 months I have felt guilt, shame, anger, and embarrassment for what Larry did to me. I am relieved that the truth finally came out, but I am angry with myself for not recognizing the abuse sooner, and I struggle with that daily. However, I truly believe that even if I would have recognized the abuse and come forward several years ago, we would still be in this very same place today.

I saw Larry once. I remember him doing a scan on my body as I stood straight up in his office where he poked and prodded at me and he made various observations about my muscles and bone structure, et cetera. My mom was in the room. I was really into sports and, honestly, it was interesting to hear such a thorough examination of my body.

This case has taken all of me, every ounce of my being to press forward. The world that we live in does not allow time to heal, and it never will.