Living her best life with Multiple Sclerosis - Suzette Sutton-Frazee

I feel blessed to know Suzette and more honored that she was brave enough to come forward and discuss her struggles. She is passionate about helping others, connecting with people and sharing her message of healing. IN HER WORDS: I was raped by a 14-year-old neighbor at the age of 9. My parents weren't home and so my brother's older friend took the opportunity. As I've thought about it over the years, what stands out to me is that he had been grooming me since a young age. I was the one that he had a special nickname for, he always tried to make me feel special. So when the day arrived, I never in a million years thought he would do anything like that. I remember just freezing, not knowing what to do. Over the years, like a typical victim, I found myself making excuses for him (ie. boys will be boys, he was still a nice guy, he was also molested). Then I got to an age where I was like, NO. What he did was wrong. As I talked with people from many different walks of life, I found out that virtually EVERYONE knows someone who was molested as a child, whether it be themselves or someone else. This is unacceptable and needs to change. I was pretty emotionally needy, as a child. I was the youngest of four kids. My father was a good man, but he was very strict, so there wasn't a whole lot of freedom to be yourself. My mother was sick most of my life. She was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis when I was 4. I watched her body decline and by the time I was 19, she was struggling to do basic things for herself. Eventually, I was forced to become a caretaker of my mom at age 12. Why do I say forced? Because no one asked, it was just expected. This had a profound effect on me. I didn't have a normal childhood because of it. Skip to my adulthood. My mom died in 1998. I was 28 and in my last semester of college. I had postponed college to help with my mom. I don't regret this, I'm glad I did. Eventually, I met my now-husband. We settled in Michigan and I had two children. After the birth of my second, a son, I lost the