Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN) - 1005

Tonight's special guest is Chris Mosquera from Cape Canaveral, Florida, an adult survivor of child abuse and activist who's among NAASCA's newest family members. He's telling his story in public tonight for the first time. Born in Puerto Rico, Chris never knew his father. His mother was a German refugee from Hitler's Jewish extermination war who came across the pond as part of the Kinder Care boat lift from London. Mother and son moved to New York City when he was 3, where Chris grew up very poor and always struggling. He thinks his abuse started when he was about 6. He still struggles with any clarity, saying, "Amnesia is nature's way to protect the brain and the soul. I can name a few people in my head and a few incidents. But my memory is mostly in very small and fast flashes." Chris recalls most of his abusers were boy friends of his mother, who thought it was important for a fatherless boy to have father figures and male bonding. "I know there were many men who were fond of my young innocent body and mind. One was a doctor my mother worked for. One was a camp counselor at a sleep away camp. One was a boy friend who raised white mice," he explains. "I was jumped and ganged in the school shower locker rooms." Not long ago Chris discovered his memory problem was related to PTSD, and says, "I have recently come to grips and recognized the abuse issues after 50 years of keeping it inside." Now he's changing his life. "I want to tell the world how evil child sex abuse is and [about] male sex childhood abuse," says Chris. "Advocacy is healing!" he exclaims, concluding, "I will have done my job if one child does not have to spend 50 years dealing with this. It has cost me friends, career, my wife, my marriage, and my family. My life was stolen. I am a survivor and I will survive."