 My abuser was one of my best friends from high school and we had lost contact for about 14 years and we reconnected through Facebook. At the very beginning it was like very honeymoon stage, very night and shining armor. He was kind and kind with my girls. I noticed a change about a month into the relationship. It would be a lot of walking on eggshells at dinner. He would push the plate away and say how awful my cooking was and putting me down. And constantly making me question my own kind of perception of reality. The night that my abuser attempted to kill me, we had gone to dinner and gone out with some friends. And when we got home he started immediately arguing with me and I just had enough. So I said I'm done. I'm going to bed. I want you out in the morning. This is not going to work. It's over. And the next thing I remember is I had woken up in the bathroom and there was just blood covering the whole bathroom. He then strangled me to unconsciousness and the next thing I remember was waking up outside. When he had put me outside he thought he had killed me. Someone came walking up the street and carried me down and then the ambulance and police and fire came and for the first time I felt safe. Having an advocate come to the hospital and just be there for me was huge. She's the one that made me want to volunteer at TESA and want to go through the advocacy training. I made sure to speak at every single court hearing that there was whether I had to speak or not because I felt like he took so much from me that night that every time I spoke I got a little bit back. So as hard as it was having the support of not just family and friends but TESA's support through the counselor I was seeing and as well as the advocate made it so much easier. It helped me to take my life back. If I can prevent one man from hurting the person he loves or prevent one woman from going through what I went through then I can see positives in the awful situation that I went through. My mom is a really amazing person and I look up to her tremendously. I think she's so strong and with everything that she's been through it just she's so incredible. When my mom comes and speaks to my school I think it's so amazing just because it not only spreads awareness but I think it kind of shows people that like this happens in everyday life kind of opens people eyes to what's really going on. My girls are now 14 and 16 and we've grown together and we've healed together with this experience so it's definitely a part of our lives now but in a very positive way. I now have this huge passion to help others.