Our cover story features a woman who lived through something unfathomable: more than a decade of sexual violence at her father's hand.
Kayla Strong — an alias — visited my office a week ago to tell her story. Before that, she emailed me about how there's not enough in the news about sexual and domestic violence.
From that first email to the end of our interview, something struck me. Despite experiencing unspeakable acts, despite her father's betrayal of his child's trust and love, this woman was strong. In fact, I think she was stronger than I was during the interview.
I've edited plenty of stories like this one, and have interviewed a number of people on difficult subjects in my nine-year career. But it was difficult to ask about Kayla's relationship with her father; perhaps the parent-child relationship is so sacred that even asking about her father's perversion seemed wrong.
But then Kayla reminded me: this story is for other survivors.
"I wish somebody would have shared their story with me," she said. "Whenever you are that young, you kind of feel like this is only happening to me; why isn't this happening to anyone else?"
I verified the story's facts with the Duval County Clerk of Court's office, but wish that we didn't have to shield the survivor's and relatives' names, because that meant shielding the abuser's name.
And unlike him, this woman has nothing to be ashamed of.
What's your view? Write a letter to the editor or tweet News Bulletin Editor Thomas Boni.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: EDITOR’S DESK: I've met the strongest woman in Crestview