Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN) - 860

Tonight's special guest is Beverly Anderson from North Carolina, child abuse survivor and activist. Beverly grew up being sexual abused by her biological father, starting at 8 years old. "I was being told I was Daddy's favorite," she says, "and this was "our little secret." (Her mother claimed she didn't find out about her Dad's abuse for about 30 years). Beverly escaped the house at 21, "but as I got older I was being told by my Father that he loved me and actually wanted me to live with him out of state so he could be with me." She suffered from unfortunate or tragic relationships for many years. She loved one of her husbands, who she married at 28, but he was killed by a drunk driver leaving her with two small children. "I was hospitalized in 1989 and I had major flashbacks of what had happened when I was younger. Married at the time, another block hit me in the face .. my son was molested by my husband's (now ex husband) stepfather." She continues, "After all the poor choices in men, I stayed single for quite awhile trying to find myself. I always loved working with numbers, working in different banks and finance companies, so I went to college for accounting and graduated with honors at 50 years old. I married again at the age of 60 and I know I got it right!" She goes on, "Last year I got reacquainted with a friend of mine who is also an Adult Survivor and she got me to really open up. Through her encouragement I opened my group page in April, 2014." Beverly concludes, "I am, who I am today, which I want to help others like myself and knew all I had to do was...say..."I didn't become who I am because of you, I became who I am in spite of you!