Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN) - 1085

Tonight's special guest is Jay Lore from Laurel. Maryland, child abuse survivor and author  of the book "Sometimes You Lose, Sometimes You Learn: How I went to a party one night for twenty years and lived to tell about it." Jay is transgendered from woman to man, and agrees this was a part of his recovery, of "being comfortable living inside his own skin." That wasn't always the case. "I was 4 years old when it started, I don't know at what age the physicality stopped. I was 32 when I first spoke it out loud to someone." Because of the abuse, Jay turned to drugs early on. "I did my first drugs at age 11. LSD, to be exact. It escalated from there. In group my councilor used to get me to read my drug list because it was so extensive and there were things she'd never heard of. There were three suicide attempts. "I was a cutter. I loved the feel of the blade, the sting as it pierced my skin, the pain told me I was able to feel .. something. I lost my kids." Eventually Jay called an 800 drug line. That was in 1987, and Jay's been clean now for over 28 years. "I've been telling my story every chance I get," he says, "to anyone who will listen and some who don't want to hear it." He offers his book for free. Jay now lives with his oldest daughter and her family. He attends and serves at church faithfully. "It's about reaching that one someone that needs to hear my story as only I can tell it. To get that one to realize there is hope and love and light. And most importantly, that they need never walk alone again."