THOR’S STORY
A Mother’s Story
I never imagined that the deepest wound of my childhood — the pain I carried quietly for decades — would one day be reflected back at me through my own son. I spent years rebuilding myself, learning to breathe through hurt I never asked for, learning to trust God with the pieces of my heart that never quite fit together again.
But nothing prepared me for the day my life changed forever.
That winter morning, I left work early.
School had closed because of dangerous weather, so I picked up my stepdaughter and brought her home with me. It was supposed to be an ordinary day — cold, inconvenient, but safe.
Instead, it became the moment that shattered everything I believed about safety.
I opened Thor’s bedroom door, and in that single second, the world stopped.
My heart fell into a darkness I had known once before as a child.
And the image I saw — the one I can never erase from my mind — is something no mother should ever have to witness.
I will never forget that moment.
It will live in a place inside me that holds both my own childhood pain and the unbearable truth that my son was now carrying a wound that should have never been his.
I was not an eight-year-old victim anymore.
I was a mother.
A survivor.
A woman who had already lived this nightmare once — and now was forced to watch her child walk through the fire of something unspeakable.
And in that instant, everything inside me changed.
I refused to be silent.
I refused to let fear win.
I refused to let my son’s pain be buried the way mine once was.
Since that day, every breath, every prayer, every step has become a fight — not only for my child’s healing, but for justice, for truth, and for the countless children who are failed by the systems meant to protect them.
I have held Thor through panic, nightmares, confusion, and fears no child should ever know.
But even in the darkest moments, he has shown a strength far greater than the harm done to him.
Thor is not just a victim.
He is not just a headline or a court case.
He is not the child “something happened to.”
He is a warrior.
He is a survivor.
He is my son — and he carries the strength of his name.
We are fighting because the laws are not enough.
We are fighting because the system did not protect him.
We are fighting because children across Ohio deserve better.
We are fighting because a predator should never have the power to destroy a family’s peace and walk away untouched.
And we are fighting because God carried us through what could have destroyed us — and now He calls us to protect others.
Thor’s story is painful, but it is powerful.
It is the beginning of a movement.
It is the spark that will bring change to this state.
It is a testimony of resilience, truth, and the unbreakable bond between a mother and her child.
This is not just my son’s story.
This is Ohio’s story.
This is every child’s story.
And it is why we will not stop until the laws change and justice is served.
Thor will rise from this — stronger, braver, unbroken.
And the world will hear his story, because I will never let silence win again.
