Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN) - 2378

Tonight's special guest is David J Brown from Duluth, Minnesota, an abuse survivor and returning NAASCA family member who's the author of a two novels. The first novel, 'Daddy Had To Say Goodbye', written in the third person, is based on a true accounting of David's life story. "I've now released my second novel," he writes. 'Flesh Of A Fraud' is a continuation, and both books are about a severely beaten child who grows up to become a bully. David was the 2nd of 4 boys. "My dad was a blue color union man. Mother was a stay at home drug addict. I had to repeat the 1st and 2nd grades. The Duluth school district classified me as retarded. My parents placed me in parochial school to avoid the stigma of having a retarded kid." The beatings stopped when David was was ten, when his father got sober. He still couldn't trust his parents. "I was always scared that they were going to kill me. I knew that if I told anyone about it I would get beaten even worse. Teachers didn't dare to ask or want to know what happened to my face." David's two novels are based on his own true story. The character is a severely broken man who hides his mental illness but develops PTSD from his work as a Paramedic and a Police Officer. He suffers lifelong depression and alcoholism, and faces suicide. Thinking that the pain of living had to be worse than the pain of dying is a constant .. surrender is his only hope. David himself is better now and reports he's, "been sober for over 25 years thru the grace of God and the principles of Alcoholics Anonymous."