Child_Abuse

Abuse: Triumph after Tragedy Dolly Parton once famously said, “The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.” On a Monday morning, back in 2005, it started raining in my life, and it didn’t stop for a very long time. There hasn’t been a day since that I don’t look in the mirror and see the girl that I used to be and wonder where I would be today if my past had not been as tragic as it had. The rain began on that Monday morning while I was at work. I received a phone call that would inevitably change me forever. I was in the middle of helping a surgeon perform a procedure when a co-worker interrupted us to inform me that I had a call. I asked her to kindly take a message; she looked at me and said, “Marie, you are going to want to take this call.” Based on the concern that was on her face, I stopped what I was doing and went to answer the phone. It was my oldest child’s father. He stated that, “Something is wrong with our son.” He went on to explain that our 5 month old son was very “lethargic” and would not wake up. Callis 2 I immediately left the west end of Richmond and arrived home, in Urbanna, in exactly 45 minutes. When I entered the house, I found my son lying there, lifeless. He moaned when I touched him but would not open his eyes nor respond to my voice in any way. I quickly gathered him up and took him to his pediatrician, who I had already called to let them know what was going on. When we arrived at the doctor’s office, the pediatrician performed a quick examination. My son was still moaning, but he would not open his eyes, his back was covered with bruises and his head had begun to swell. My pediatrician looked at me and said, “Head straight to MCV.” She explained that she thought our son had had a reaction to his vaccinations that he received the previous Friday. I quickly called my son’s father and asked him to pack a bag as we needed to head to MCV. He did so and once I arrived home, we speed off to MCV. Once we arrived at MCV, my son was examined, test after test after test. The rain continued. He was poked, prodded, and pulled on. After 8 hours of watching my son go through all the testing, being puked on, and being just mentally exhausted; the physician, social worker, and priest all came into the examining room to tell us that “the only way my son had sustained these types of injuries was through child abuse.” At that moment, my world stopped and the rain continued to pour down, as if a bucket had been dumped on my head. It felt as though my heart had literally hit the floor. I began to question my ability as a mother and I had absolutely no answers. When I left home that morning, he was safely asleep in his crib. Callis 3 My son was admitted to the hospital, and he stayed there for weeks. He had sustained several life threatening injuries, and we were advised that, “he is one very lucky little boy.” However, the next day, we were advised that we would no longer be able to see him. An emergency removal hearing had been scheduled to take him from our custody. The rain continued. There were interviews with detectives, doctors, surgeons, and social workers. Time after time, I found myself having to explain the condition that I left my son in that morning. I was being made to feel as though all of this was my fault for leaving my son alone with his father. In the end, my son is “one very lucky little boy.” He has had, and will forever have problems with his vision. While he is still too young to know if there will be any long term damage from the abuse, I know one thing for is for sure, I am truly blessed to still have him in my life. The person who performed this unimaginable act has gotten what he deserves and I am very thankful that he will never be a part of our lives again. I am just ashamed that it had to come to this before I realized the type of person that he truly was. I will forever blame myself for what happened to my son, I realize that I did not do this to him but I am his mother, I am supposed to protect him from all the evils of the world and yet I did not look in our own home to see the evil. Callis 4 Trust, these days, is very hard for me. I found myself, for years, asking why' Why did this happen to us' Why did this happen to me' I always thought of myself as a strong individual, but when the rain came pouring down on me that Monday morning, I certainly questioned myself and my faith. You never know how strong you are until you are placed in a situation that will either make or break you. God will not give you more than you can handle, but it is your faith that will give you the strength to go on.