squirt13000 asked this question on 5/10/2000:

I am a ninth grade student at Timbercrest Junior High in Washington. I am doing an extensive report on child abuse. I would really like to hear your story, how you coped with being abused, and how it changed your life. My e-mail is alc2003@hotmail.com. Thank you so very much for your time, and I look forward to hearing from you.

sherry007 gave this response on 5/11/2000:

Hi! Of course I would love to help you. I was abused throughout my whole life. I had an alcoholic father who I was physically and emotionally beaten by. I was also sexually abused by other people as well. But out of all the different abuses that I have taken, To me the worst was the emotional abuse. Being called Stupid or retarded is one of the worst things because that forever lives on your mind and soon you actually feel as if you are stupid. it really ruins your self confidence. Now This might sound crazy, but I thank God for my abuse, because It has helped me to be strong, and I work with children. I encourage them, and I help them to get through their problems. I have a 14 year old that I will be adopting soon. when she first came here i told her that i knew how she felt, because I had been there, she was on medication because she could not deal with it all. A year and a half later, she is a new person, no longer on any medication. Now if I never had been abused maybe I would of not been able to reach her. Sometimes in life we have to take the bad with the good, and the bad will bring out a beautiful outcome. Being abused can make you live in fear, or it can fill you full of bitterness and hatred. But I had to learn that life is what I make of it.