Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN) - 1285

Tonight's special guest is Linda Dueling from Omaha, Nebraska, a child abuse survivor and active NAASCA volunteer family member. Linda was sexually abused and eventually raped by her Grandpa. This went on until she was about 8 years old. Later, at 12, she would 'fall in love' with a 20 year old who introduced her to IV drugs. At 15 she ended up living on the streets with a boy and they were eventually arrested for 'breaking and entering' when they tried to find shelter. He was sent to Juvenile Hall, but Linda was released to her mother. "Mom slapped and hit me the whole walk home about 12 blocks." She ran away again and experienced a horrible gang rape by a group of 'friends'. Linda says. "I know GOD saved me that night." Linda began using drugs again and meet a boy who would become her husband. "He began hitting me within months," Linda says. "I was beaten daily." It took nearly 2 decades before she joined a church and got clean. For a while things got better. She earned a Certificate in Counseling for Addiction. She built businesses and was seen as a 'success'. "I had over come my addiction and my marriage was now 'healthy' by everyone's standards. Yet I felt dead." In 2008 she tried to take her life. "I was held at the hospital for almost a month. When I left I went into Intensive Outpatient Therapy 5 days a week, four hours a day." In 2010 she'd had enough. "I left for a business trip and never returned home." Her life has improved but she knows she still has a long way to go. She pushes on "Telling this side of my story with out protecting anyone in the process is a new journey."