Richard P Romano

Whole Again: Adults Surviving Child Sexual Abuse Richard P Romano

Publisher Marketing: A moving and inspirational story of one man's search for recovery from sexual child abuse. Just Another Survivor takes the reader on a journey of personal discovery, growth and recovery. Abused from eight years old until 18, JAS finds himself confronted with the lie he has lived for forty years. A lie he no longer can deny or ignore. A journey triggered by a fortuitous epiphany: Forty years is a long time to be lost in the fog of life. Now as I sit in this place of desperation and solitude, choosing a resting place for myself, I find my emotions challenged once again. Just weeks ago I decided not to fight the cancer and let go of the ghost. But in this place, at life's end, I am faced with the truth of my life. A life lived as a lie; propelled through time by denial, shame and guilt. However, in this place, there is only me, the truth, and the epiphany, which left me naked and alone, a stranger to myself. The lie that molded my life to its own insidious design exploded in my mind as a brilliant flash of reality. Dying was no longer going to easy. My time had come to step out of the denial that has been the nexus of my life, and in step into the light of prevailing truth. Ten years of childhood sexual abuse, as a boy, has had its way with me and controlled all aspects of my life. It has left me replete with empty emotional holes, lost memories and nightmares; all of which will need to be dealt with if I am going to heal. I would choose life and to fight once more, but this time it would be on my terms. I would choose recovery, God will have to wait.