At 2 years old my father stabbed my mother behind the ear and nearly killed her. At 5 years old, I was molested by a babysitter. When I was 10, my mother started getting into heavy drinking and drugs. She became neglectful and abusive. This would lead me down a path of being molested again, by a grown man. My mother was arrested right in front of me when I was 12, and she was taken away. At 13, I would be adopted by my grandparents and finally had a stable home life. However, I was still being molested by my abuser nearly every single weekend of my life. At 13 years old is the first time he raped me. At 15 years old, I joined the high school wrestling team and that wrestling coach saved my life. He gave me a sense of community and respect that I needed for myself. That summer after wrestling, after being molested for nearly 6 straight years and being raped multiple times as a young man, I would report the abuser and send him to prison for 10 years, where he eventually died. I would continue to wrestle throughout high school which paved the way for me to join the military. After 8 years in the Infantry and a combat deployment, I got out of the Army in 2021. When I got out, I was still working out and training but I had no drive or anything to work for until I found my Jiu Jitsu gym. I started training Jiu Jitsu in December of 2022. I am now a two stripe blue belt and I train 5-7 times a week. I compete and I absolutely love it. I have recently started sharing my story on podcasts and other platforms to show others how I overcome so much trauma and adversity in my life. At my gym, the community is incredibly supportive and understanding. They are like my second family. This story is so powerful and relatable and I have received so much incredible feedback, especially because people had no idea all of this happened to me as a young man. People can’t believe who I am today, considering what I went through.
You can find my story on IG @gobeyondtheshadows and on any podcast
platform.
“what came next” episode
“the 10ninety podcast” episode
