Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN) - 2826

Tonight's special guest is Michael Walter from Scottsdale, Arizona, a child abuse survivor and author. Michael shares, “My childhood was framed and formed by abuse. I was sexually assaulted by both parents beginning at the age of 5 and it continued until I was an early teen. Beatings were common. I was often hit with an open hand, backhand, leather belt, any item that was in easy reach. Psychologically, I was stripped of any sense of worth. I was subjected to hours of interrogations until I would collapse from exhaustion. I ran away from home on multiple occasions and attempted suicide several times.” Of his new book 'Stolen Innocence: A Childhood Lost', Michael relates, “I decided, over a decade ago, to put my experience down on paper. At first it was about therapy. For so many years I was tormented by the memories and I struggled to face them. Putting them down in written word forced me to, in a way, confront them face-to-face.” Michael wrote scores of pages. When it became too overwhelming, he placed all the pages at the bottom of his clothes drawer. Months later, he found the pages, read them, and started typing. Michael continues, “I began to think about others who have been abused. I thought of those being abused at that very moment. For two years, I typed those pages. As I began to know that my story could help others. I began to edit the words and decided to condense my story into a few incidents. To make a difference in someone else's life, I did not want to overwhelm them. I wanted to let them know, by describing a few of the things that had happened to me, they could feel as I was someone who could relate to what they had been through.”