To hear the survivors of Larry Nassar
You, along with Michigan State University, claim that you were unaware of what was happening. My question to you is how could you not know when there was so many people made aware of this? I have never been so disappointed in Michigan State University than I am right now.
As for my mom, I hope she can stop blaming herself for your monster — for a monster’s mistake and start healing as well. You, Larry, have made my mom’s life miserable, too, when she looked at you as a friend.
Life handed me lemons and you best believe that I am well prepared to make some lemonade. You cannot break me, Larry. I am a survivor.
I was a child and so were they. Most of us brand new teenagers that will never understand how someone could have ever done that. I’m a mother, a mother of two amazing beautiful little girls, and my job is to protect them from people like you.
I’m kind of a wreck. Until now I haven’t told anybody about this part of my life, not my parents, my friends, or even counselors. A shame that began 16 years ago has remained a deep, dark secret inside of me, but I would like to tell it now.
Larry. Lar-Bear. You were my dearest friend from level five to level 10. I met you for a heel injury when I was young. There were all signs pointing to you from there and on. You were the one who was here to save me and my gymnastics. You and I had a very special bond from the beginning. You even said it yourself. You told me that I was special and going somewhere fast. I believed you because you believed in me, like everyone else.
How do you even begin that conversation with anyone? You can’t begin to imagine how hard it was to even tell my parents what had happened and then watch them cry and struggle with their own guilt.
Every story was a new layer of reality. A mess of truth scrawled in dark in on pages of a story that I had previously viewed with innocence oblivion. It was manipulation, a scheme, a plot to gain trust, and it worked. It worked on me and it worked on countless others.
Because of you, being helped and abused go hand in hand. I have pushed away everyone I have ever loved or has ever loved me, oftentimes lashing out at them because I question everyone’s intentions. Happy, extroverted, carefree, adventurous Kassie has been lost as you stole and left me with a void and feeling of emptiness and loss deeper than words can express.
What hurts the most about this whole situation is how Doctor Nassar knew my emotional vulnerability and took advantage of me. I was only a child.
