Gilroy
–
”
I grabbed the knife and cut into my forearm. The more I cried
the harder I would do it,
”
said Patty Lezama, 31, a victim of child sexual abuse. But the
pain was deeper than the blade. The secret of her sexual abuse
festered for 25 years until she could no longer hide it.
Gilroy – “I grabbed the knife and cut into my forearm. The more I cried the harder I would do it,” said Patty Lezama, 31, a victim of child sexual abuse. But the pain was deeper than the blade. The secret of her sexual abuse festered for 25 years until she could no longer hide it.
Through Community Solutions, Lezama received help. She is in the process of recovering and now speaks to others about her painful journey while working as a television news anchor for Univision now on her fifth year.
For her journey, she was honored with the Helping Hands & Healing Hearts luncheon fundraiser at the Coyote Creek Golf Club Friday.
The abuse began at the age of 6, but it’s all a blur. She lived in Hollister with her five siblings, parents and uncle.
One day she played with her dolls in the room, and her uncle came inside and molested her.
“I had no idea what molestation was,” she said. “He would tell me things to do. I felt dirty.” This went on and off for three years, then finally it stopped.
“I had suppressed (the molestation) so well that I forgot about it for a year,” but she was depressed throughout her childhood.
Feelings of worthlessness and depression hit the hardest in her junior high and high school years.
While in college, Lezama told her best friend about the abuse. This led to Lezama’s first break down. Then she attempted to kill herself. She often overdosed on pills, jumped into the street to get hit by a car, and jumped out of the window of a house.
“I just felt so dirty. I felt worse than a pig. Than an animal,” she said. In describing her pain, she said that it could fill a whole stadium. Every time she cut her forearms and legs it would bring her temporary relief.
It wasn’t until last year, that Patty sought professional help and told Jim Cafiero, a high school counselor in Hollister about the abuse despite her fear of men.
“Mr. Cafiero gave me a different image of a man,” she said. “He gave me back the image of men that do want to help.”
He referred her to a therapist and Community Solutions, a comprehensive human services agency that has served south Santa Clara County and the surrounding areas since 1972. With services such as free therapy, Lezama was able to get help and begin recovery. The next step was confronting her uncle.
When Lezama faced him, she told him she would no longer carry the burden. She asked him to leave the area, and that’s exactly what he did.
“What helped me a lot is that I was able to show him and myself that I could move on,” she said. “I made him feel the way he made me feel. I transferred that to him.”
Today she does the things that she never did as a child, and while at work she no longer has breakdowns as often as before.
“In the process of helping others she will heal herself,” said her co-anchor Esmeralda Montenegro.
Lezama agrees.
“It feels so liberating to be able to say it in front of so many people,” Lezama said.
