ExecutiveMom's Safety and Self Defense Blog

Drug Recall - Are You Up to date on Effexor and other products that may affect you?

Today, there has been a recall on Effexor XR distributed by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. 

What does that mean for you?

At this time, there have not been any reports of health problems associated with these recalled Effexor XR capsules. The chance of a patient consuming the recalled Effexor XR and experiencing problems is very low. However, since the capsules involved in the recall may contain unknown substances, it is best to avoid using the recalled product when possible.

The FDA has a list of the lots that are being recalled..... BUT have you signed up for their email notices which include recall notices and product label changes for anything from food and cosmetics to animal products to drugs and medical devices. 

You may want to check it out and keep updated on things that could affect your daily well-being.  For the FDA site click HERE.

Have a wonderful and SAFE weekend. For more information on Pharmaceutical safety and links click HERE

What to take to bed with you at night...

Thought I'd share an interesting safety tip I received from a RAD (RapeAggressionDefense) co-instructor of mine.  A safe, easy thing to do before bed....for any age...

FYI (something to think about)...

Put your car keys beside your bed at night...

If you hear a noise outside your home or someone trying to get in
your house, just press the panic button for your car. The alarm
will be set off, and the horn will continue to sound until either you
turn it off or the car battery dies. This tip came from a neighborhood
watch coordinator. Next time you come home for the night and you
start to put your keys away, think of this:

It's a security alarm system that you probably already have and
requires no installation. Test it. It will go off from most everywhere
inside your house and will keep honking until your battery runs down
or until you reset it with the button on the key fob chain....

It works if you park in your driveway or garage. If your car alarm
goes off when someone is trying to break into your house, odds are
the burglar/rapist won't stick around. After a few seconds all the
neighbors will be looking out their windows to see who is out there
and sure enough the criminal won't want that. And remember to
carry your keys while walking to your car in a parking lot. The alarm
can work the same way there. This is something that should really be
shared with everyone. Maybe it could save a life or a sexual abuse crime.

Would also be useful for any emergency, such as a heart attack,
where you can't reach a phone. Mom has suggested to Dad that he
carry his car keys with him in case he falls outside and she doesn't
hear him. He can activate the car alarm and then she'll know there's a
problem. 

Have a wonderful SAFE weekend. (To learn more, visit RAD and contact an instructor near you. The classes are fun, educational and above all teach you personal safety - one of the best investments you will ever make)

Pharmaceutical Companies Create Own Reality Marketing Outside the Box

This is just one more reason I am glad I am out of the "rat race" that I once loved.  It saddens me the 360 degrees these companies have come from being respectable, educational, beneficial companies to ones who will stoop at anything to generate a buck and appeal to their investors on Wall Street - when I left in 2007 after 18 years, our meetings didn't consist of disease state knowledge or patient education anymore, they were:  We are slipping and our INVESTORS aren't happy - we need to sell to make money - NOT help people ... they have forgotten this is about a variety of PEOPLE - doctors, patients of all ages, researchers, making people well or improving quality of life - it is not about the all mighty dollar.  We will all one day be SICK I don't care if you are the CEO making millions you will one day NEED medical care.  Your family will need care - don't they want that to be the very best possible option?  Apparently not as you can tell from another Wyeth Pharma story: (they will soon be part of Pfizer I understand ?)

Canadian named in HRT scandal

MIKE DERER/AP FILE PHOTO

The headquarters of pharmaceutical company Wyeth is seen in this file photo.

A top Canadian researcher studying hormone replacement therapy was part of a ghostwriting scheme paid for by drug giant Wyeth Pharmaceuticals to promote its products, court documents obtained by the Toronto Star indicate.

The article in question appeared in the April 2000 edition of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society and listed McGill University psychology professor Barbara Sherwin as author.

It argued that estrogen could help treat memory loss in older patients, while offering other benefits.

Sherwin is the first Canadian implicated in an ongoing scandal in the United States, where court documents ˆ unsealed recently after a successful motion by The New York Times and the journal PLoS Medicine ˆ have lifted the veil on the extent of ghostwriting in the pharmaceutical industry.

The university is investigating.

"McGill University is committed to the highest standards of honesty and integrity in research and scholarship and takes substantiated allegations of research misconduct very seriously," said provost Anthony C. Masi in a statement yesterday.

"The university has an established process for investigating and dealing with such allegations, (and) will look into this matter and take appropriate action."

Sherwin's article examined treatments for memory loss in aging patients. It favoured estrogen, used in hormone replacement therapy, saying the hormone could also help prevent cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis, as well as reduce the risk of colorectal cancer and "all-cause mortality in postmenopausal women."

"Since estrogen has been used for nearly 60 years, its effective dosages, side effects, and influences on other organ systems are well known," the study says, describing estrogen as "relatively safe."

The study, a copy of which remains in the stacks of the University of Toronto's medical school library, lists Sherwin as the sole author. But court documents now indicate that New Jersey ghostwriting firm DesignWrite, hired by Wyeth to promote its products, actually penned the article.

The danger of ghostwriting, said James Szaller, a Cleveland lawyer leading a large class-action suit against Wyeth, is that doctors rely on such articles when caring for their patients.

"It puts patients at risk, and doctors are relying on marketing materials and not truly clinical studies or unbiased reviews of the medical literature," he said. "It's insane."

Wyeth has defended the hormone articles as scientifically sound, saying they were subjected to rigorous reviews from outside experts. It has also begun to involve academics earlier in the process and to require that its financial involvement and the use of outside writers be acknowledged.

Doubts were already being raised about hormone replacement therapy by the time Sherwin's article appeared. In 2002, two U.S. studies linked the therapy to breast cancer, ovarian cancer, heart disease, strokes and blood clots. Other studies found links to dementia.

Sherwin declined comment, but issued a statement expressing regret for working with DesignWrite.

"I wrote a portion of the article, but not all of it, although only my name was listed as its author. Other parts of that article were written with the assistance of DesignWrite, a firm which, it turns out, was employed by a pharmaceutical manufacturer to assist in the development of academic articles," she said in the email statement.

"I made an error in agreeing to have my name attached to that article without having it made clear that others contributed to it. It is an error I regret and which had never occurred before or since. I received no remuneration for the article in question. I believe the article, which was peer-reviewed, represented sound and thorough scholarship and in no way could be construed as promotion for any particular product or company."

Szaller, who for four years has sifted through internal DesignWrite documents, said Sherwin seems to have offered "a fair amount of editing" suggestions to the writers, compared with others working with DesignWrite.

"There are some who simply seemed to glance at it and make one- or two-word changes," he said.

Sherwin has been a leading Canadian researcher on the relationship between estrogen and memory loss for more than 20 years.

Shortly after the article was published, she received a prestigious James McGill Professor award, which recognizes "a senior scholar's status as outstanding and original researcher of world-class caliber." In 2007, Sherwin was appointed Canada Research Chair in Hormones, Brain and Cognition, which garnered McGill federal funding of $200,000 annually for seven years. Last year she was granted $70,089 by the federally funded Canadian Institutes of Health Research for a four-year study on "estrogen and cognitive aging in women."

Court documents released to the Star indicate DesignWrite penned Sherwin's article and faxed it to her 18 months prior to its publication, asking her to "review the enclosed outline."

"Enclosed is the draft of the review paper, 'Age-associated memory impairment: potential pharmacological treatment options' that we discussed in June," wrote Karen Mittleman, senior medical writer at DesignWrite, in a letter to Sherwin from October 1998.

The documents, given to the Star this week by Szaller, were put online yesterday by PloS, a journal of the Public Library of Science.

The article itself had been written the preceding summer by freelancer Fran Karo. No credit was given to DesignWrite, Karo, Mittleman or any others for their work.

Some of the documents appear to be dated January 2005, when they were obtained in an Arkansas lawsuit against Wyeth. In a deposition of May 2, 2006, Mittleman said the 2005 date was computer-generated, but the documents date from the late 1990s.

DO YOU TRUST THE DRUGS YOU ARE TAKING? If no, why not? Do you believe your doctor has your best interest in mind?   (I'm not advocating stopping meds - I believe they are beneficial; sadly I probably keep all the companies in business on my own with my multiple autoimmune struggles AND they help but I do question taking new ones when there isn't anything wrong with the older, cheaper ones...I just ask questions, I'm a HEALTHY SKEPTIC)

Lynn Rosenthal named as advisor on Violence Against Women

Lynn Rosenthal

President Barack Obama has named Lynn Rosenthal as White House Advisor on Violence Against Women. We had the opportunity to hear Ms. Rosenthal when she was the keynote speaker on February 13, 2009, at the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) Ending Family Homelessness Conference. Ms. Rosenthal challenged the attendees by diving deep into the subject so that they could both understand and put and end to violence against women.

Based on what we heard in that speech we are very enthusiastic about this appointment.

From 2000-2006, Rosenthal served as the Executive Director of the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) where she represented 54 state and territorial coalitions whose collective membership included more than 2000 local domestic violence programs. She played a major advocacy role in the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act in 2000 and 2005 and has assisted states and local communities with implementation of this groundbreaking federal legislation. She also worked closely with corporate partners to bring millions of dollars to local communities to respond to domestic violence. She partnered with The Allstate Foundation to develop a highly successful national initiative to promote economic empowerment for survivors of violence. Prior to her service at NNEDV, Rosenthal was director of the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence where she developed innovative service models for rural and legal services. On her return to Florida in 2006, Rosenthal developed the state’s first comprehensive plan to help survivors of violence find housing.

“President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden could not have named a more qualified, visionary leader to advise the White House on violence against women,” said Sue Else, President of the National Network to End Domestic Violence. “Lynn Rosenthal is a pioneer in the movement against domestic abuse and sexual assault. Her expertise will help to shape federal policies that will serve countless survivors of domestic and sexual violence.”

In this new position, Ms. Rosenthal will serve as an advisor to the President and Vice President on domestic violence and sexual assault issues; be a liaison to the domestic violence and sexual assault advocacy community; coordinate with the Department of Justice’s Office of Violence Against Women (OVW) on implementation of Violence Against Women Act programs; coordinate with the Department of Health and Human Services on implementation of Family Violence Prevention Act services (including the National Domestic Violence Hotline); coordinate with the State Department and USAID on global domestic violence initiatives; and drive the development new initiatives and policy aimed at combating domestic violence and sexual assault with advocacy groups and members of Congress.

We encourage you to listen to the full speech please use the link below.

She listed four principles in her speech.

1. Domestic Violence is not a clinical problem
2. Any women can be a victim
3. Women living through violence are the experts on whey need to be safe
4. We need to change the conditions that allowed this violence to be part of our culture.

In closing, Ms. Rosenthal quoted Alice Paul: “Each of us puts in one little stone, and then you get a great mosaic at the end.”

http://www.njaneh.org/2009/06/29/obama-names-advisor-on-domestic-violence/

** Any positive step in the right direction for victims is definitely needed!   I for one am hoping for a change and resources to raise an serious awareness not just lip service to the problem and make a difference in the lives of victims - we will see.   Share your stories with her....

E. Coli In Nestlé Toll House Refrigerated Cookie Dough?

If, like me, you enjoy eating uncooked cookie dough, then this is for you.  This is the best way to eat it if you ask me (that's just because I tend to burn the cookie cooking part and my 11 year old son has taken over that task - he's tired of crunchy, black left overs after I eat the dough I want :)

Wapo, "E. Coli Confirmed In Nestlé Samples."

 The Food and Drug Administration said yesterday that it had confirmed the presence of E. coli 0157, a deadly strain of bacteria, in samples of Nestlé Toll House refrigerated cookie dough produced at the company's plant in Danville, Va. Investigators did not find the bacterium inside the factory or on equipment but in a tub of chocolate cookie dough made at the site in February, said David Acheson, assistant commissioner for food safety at the FDA. The dough had a June 10 expiration date.

 Nestlé voluntarily recalled 30,000 cases of its refrigerated cookie dough on June 19 after officials at the FDA and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suspected that dozens of cases of E. coli-related illness were linked to the product. Nearly all the victims, most of whom are female and younger than 19, reported eating raw cookie dough in the days before the onset of symptoms. Health officials still do not know how E. coli 0157, a bacterium that lives in cattle intestines, ended up in a product that seems so unlikely to contain it.

The risk usually associated with cookie dough is salmonella, a bacterium that can be found in raw eggs. None of the ingredients in the dough -- eggs, milk, flour, chocolate, butter -- is known to host E. coli 0157. The FDA press release: Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced that it has found E. coli O157:H7 (a bacterium that can cause serious food borne illness) in a sample of prepackaged Nestlé Toll House refrigerated cookie dough currently under recall by the manufacturer and marketer, Nestlé USA.

The contaminated sample was collected at Nestlé’s facility in Danville, Va. on June 25, 2009. On June 19, the FDA and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned consumers not to eat any varieties of prepackaged Nestlé Toll House refrigerated cookie dough due to the risk of contamination with E. coli O157:H7. The warning was based on an epidemiological study conducted by the CDC and several state and local health departments. As of Thursday, June 25, the CDC reports that 69 persons from 29 states have been infected with the outbreak strain. Thirty-four persons have been hospitalized, nine with a severe complication called hemolytic uremic syndrome. No one has died. Further laboratory testing is needed to conclusively link the E. coli strain found in the product to the same strain that is causing the outbreak. Nestlé USA has fully cooperated with the FDA and CDC investigation and has recalled all of its prepackaged Nestlé Toll House refrigerated cookie dough products. For answers to consumer questions about this recall and warning, go to: http://www.fda.gov/Food/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/ucm168346.htm.

For more information about E. coli, visit the CDC Web site at: http://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/. Consumers who have additional questions about these products should contact Nestlé USA consumer services at 1-800-559-5025 and/or visit its Web site at www.verybestbaking.com. Related: June 19, 2009 - Nestlé USA’s Baking Division Initiates Voluntary Recall

Well, I knew it all tasted too good to be true - one of these days I'm going to just be limited to eating??? What???

For more safety tips click HERE

To Helmet or Not to Helmet?

I ran across an interesting article today discussing the benefits of mandatory helmet usage while bike riding.  I'd love to know your opinion. 

When on a bike, scooter, dirt bike or their 4-wheeler, it is mandatory in my house for my children, my husband and myself to wear a helmet.  In college, before it was mandatory to wear motorcycle helmets in our state, I worked in the ER as a transporter.  I can't tell you how many young lives were lost because of head injuries.  My own Uncle's life was saved by his helmet usage.  I'm not saying he didn't mess his whole face up - broken cheek bones, etc but he lived and that's the important thing. 

As I grew and moved into my pharmaceutical position, one of the first people to have an impression on me was at one time considered one of the best Neurosurgeons in the Country at our top teaching institution.  When i had the honor of meeting him, he was a delivery person walking with a cart in the hospital every day because of the neurological damage done to his head following a bike accident.  He had hit a large rock in the street, went head over the handlebars and lost his functioning and livelihood. 

These things convinced me to use helmets before they were "popular".  Is it your choice to wear a helmet or not - well maybe but if you are disabled because of your lack of safety am I then responsible for paying for your medical care and life long support because of a disability or is that something you are willing to risk and pay for on your own? Just an argument and thought....

The one time I do not insist on helmet usage is during roller blading when the ER physicians say most accidents happen to the wrists so wrist guards are a must - helmets preferred.  Am I right here, most of the ER docs I worked with for years thought so but yes, it's a risk I take.  As for the bikes and cycles, I am not willing to take that one chance in whatever the statistics may be.  As I tell my daughter who's learning to drive, sometimes it's not you but the other idiots on the road who are dangerous so why not be as careful as you possibly can be? Why not lower the risk?

It is summer time and more bikes are out - please be safe as you drive those neighborhood streets and let me know your thoughts on this argument.

Helmet on Your Head or Egg on Your Face

by Matthew Roth on June 15, 2009

League of American Bicyclists refused to link to Matthew Modine's Bicycle for a Day site because he didn't don certain ritual headgear.

Matthew Modine has been getting a lot of negative attention recently for his stance on wearing a helmet while he cycles: i.e., he doesn't wear a helmet while he cycles (it would have to be a large helmet to fit that copious coif). A profile of his Bicycle for a Day in New York Mag spins off track into a diatribe about his perspective on gravity and head trauma, while closing with an objectification of his posterior that would never fly were he not a dude.  But hey, its New York Rag, what can you expect? Unfortunately TreehuggerEcorazzi get in on the game, making the argument that only reckless people don't use a helmet while riding a bike, which isn't far from the argument made by motorists that only reckless people ride bikes. Fortunately the cooler head (s?) at Copenhagenize dissects the arguments in the "Get Yer Pitchforks! It's a Bike Helmet Witchhunt!" article and exposes a very interesting angle of helmet-mania: American's are so helmet-conscious in part because the helmet manufacturers are American, they have lobbyists everywhere, and cycling was pitched in part by these same manufactures as a sport, not a transportation mode

and........

For Safety Tips check out:  Executive Defense Technology. Be SAFE!

Men in My Town

Online Support for Parents of victim of Child Sexual Assault

This is an older Posting of Mine from February but I just received a wonderful comment from a reader I'd truly like to share with you all - 10-15% of all sexual assault cases fall within the category of "Stranger Danger" and definitely can't be discounted.  Although our story is about Incest and it's affects, an incredible friend of mine, like this reader, was abducted, held for days and raped at the young age of 16 - unfortunately for her, 30 years later they still don't have any arrests or prospects because the police lost the DNA evidence she had taken immediately after the assault (guess times were different in the 1970s)...still she lives in constant fear like this reader.

THANK YOU so very much for sharing your story with me and best to you, your book and your web site - I KNOW you will help others with your story at www.meninmytown.wordpress.com.

As a secondary survivor of Child Sexual Assault, and as a parent suffering to understand the whys and hows, I have put together an online chat / message board with resources, books, and other information for those needed support and help and ideas for coping for both you and your children.  It has been a long hard road for us and I know the roller coaster will continue as the years pass by but since i was unable to find much help for myself I thought i'd use our experience to maybe help other parents along their journey.

Would love your input as well ...  I know there are others who have traveled this path before us and more who will follow so feel free to share what you think may help.

Thank you and God Bless -

MESSAGE BOARD / RESOURCES

OUR STORY

A LETTER TO OTHER PARENTS

My name is Keith Smith. I was abducted, beaten and raped by a stranger. It wasn't a neighbor, a coach, a relative, a family friend or teacher. It was a recidivist pedophile predator who spent time in prison for previous sex crimes; an animal hunting for victims in the quite, bucolic, suburban neighborhoods of Lincoln, Rhode Island.

I was able to identify the guy and the car he was driving. Although he was arrested that night and indicted a few months later, he never went to trial. His trial never took place because he was brutally beaten to death in Providence before his court date. 34 years later, no one has ever been charged with the crime.

In the time between the night of my assault and the night he was murdered, I lived in fear. I was afraid he was still around town. Afraid he was looking for me. Afraid he would track me down and kill me. The fear didn’t go away when he was murdered. Although he was no longer a threat, the simple life and innocence of a 14-year-old boy was gone forever. Carefree childhood thoughts replaced with the unrelenting realization that my world wasn’t a safe place. My peace shattered by a horrific criminal act of sexual violence.

Over the past 34 years, I’ve been haunted by horrible, recurring memories of what he did to me. He visits me in my sleep. There have been dreams–nightmares actually–dozens of them, sweat inducing, yelling-in-my-sleep nightmares filled with images and emotions as real as they were when it actually happened. It doesn’t get easier over time. Long dead, he still visits me, silently sneaking up from out of nowhere when I least expect it. From the grave, he sits by my side on the couch every time the evening news reports a child abduction or sex crime. I don’t watch America’s Most Wanted or Law and Order SVU, because the stories are a catalyst, triggering long suppressed emotions, feelings, memories, fear and horror. Real life horror stories rip painful suppressed memories out from where they hide, from that recessed place in my brain that stores dark, dangerous, horrible memories. It happened when William Bonin confessed to abducting, raping and murdering 14 boys in California; when Jesse Timmendequas raped and murdered Megan Kanka in New Jersey; when Ben Ownby, missing for four days, and Shawn Hornbeck, missing for four years, were recovered in Missouri.

Despite what happened that night and the constant reminders that continue to haunt me years later, I wouldn’t change what happened. The animal that attacked me was a serial predator, a violent pedophile trolling my neighborhood in Lincoln, Rhode Island looking for young boys. He beat me, raped me, and I stayed alive. I lived to see him arrested, indicted and murdered. It might not have turned out this way if he had grabbed one of my friends or another kid from my neighborhood. Perhaps he’d still be alive. Perhaps there would be dozens of more victims and perhaps he would have progressed to the point of silencing his victims by murdering them.

Out of fear, shame and guilt, I’ve been silent for over three decades, not sharing with anyone the story of what happened to me. No more. The silence has to end. What happened to me wasn't my fault. The fear, the shame, the guilt have to go. It’s time to stop keeping this secret from the people closest to me, people I care about, people I love, my long-time friends and my family. It’s time to speak out to raise public awareness of male sexual assault, to let other victims know that they’re not alone and to help victims of rape and violent crime understand that the emotion, fear and memories that may still haunt them are not uncommon to those of us who have shared a similar experience.

For those who suffer in silence, I hope my story brings some comfort, strength, peace and hope.

My novel, Men in My Town, was inspired by these actual events. Men in My Town is available now at www.Amazon.com

For additional information, please visit the Men in My Town blog at www.meninmytown.wordpress.com

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SHARING KEITH - God Bless - together maybe our voices CAN make a difference!

This is an older Posting of Mine from February but I just received a wonderful comment from a reader I'd truly like to share with you all - 10-15% of all sexual assault cases fall within the category of "Stranger Danger" and definitely can't be discounted.  Although our story is about Incest and it's affects, an incredible friend of mine, like this reader, was abducted, held for days and raped at the young age of 16 - unfortunately for her, 30 years later they still don't have any arrests or prospects because the police lost the DNA evidence she had taken immediately after the assault (guess times were different in the 1970s)...still she lives in constant fear like this reader.

THANK YOU so very much for sharing your story with me and best to you, your book and your web site - I KNOW you will help others with your story at www.meninmytown.wordpress.com.

As a secondary survivor of Child Sexual Assault, and as a parent suffering to understand the whys and hows, I have put together an online chat / message board with resources, books, and other information for those needed support and help and ideas for coping for both you and your children.  It has been a long hard road for us and I know the roller coaster will continue as the years pass by but since i was unable to find much help for myself I thought i'd use our experience to maybe help other parents along their journey.

Would love your input as well ...  I know there are others who have traveled this path before us and more who will follow so feel free to share what you think may help.

Thank you and God Bless -

MESSAGE BOARD / RESOURCES

OUR STORY

A LETTER TO OTHER PARENTS

My name is Keith Smith. I was abducted, beaten and raped by a stranger. It wasn't a neighbor, a coach, a relative, a family friend or teacher. It was a recidivist pedophile predator who spent time in prison for previous sex crimes; an animal hunting for victims in the quite, bucolic, suburban neighborhoods of Lincoln, Rhode Island.

I was able to identify the guy and the car he was driving. Although he was arrested that night and indicted a few months later, he never went to trial. His trial never took place because he was brutally beaten to death in Providence before his court date. 34 years later, no one has ever been charged with the crime.

In the time between the night of my assault and the night he was murdered, I lived in fear. I was afraid he was still around town. Afraid he was looking for me. Afraid he would track me down and kill me. The fear didn’t go away when he was murdered. Although he was no longer a threat, the simple life and innocence of a 14-year-old boy was gone forever. Carefree childhood thoughts replaced with the unrelenting realization that my world wasn’t a safe place. My peace shattered by a horrific criminal act of sexual violence.

Over the past 34 years, I’ve been haunted by horrible, recurring memories of what he did to me. He visits me in my sleep. There have been dreams–nightmares actually–dozens of them, sweat inducing, yelling-in-my-sleep nightmares filled with images and emotions as real as they were when it actually happened. It doesn’t get easier over time. Long dead, he still visits me, silently sneaking up from out of nowhere when I least expect it. From the grave, he sits by my side on the couch every time the evening news reports a child abduction or sex crime. I don’t watch America’s Most Wanted or Law and Order SVU, because the stories are a catalyst, triggering long suppressed emotions, feelings, memories, fear and horror. Real life horror stories rip painful suppressed memories out from where they hide, from that recessed place in my brain that stores dark, dangerous, horrible memories. It happened when William Bonin confessed to abducting, raping and murdering 14 boys in California; when Jesse Timmendequas raped and murdered Megan Kanka in New Jersey; when Ben Ownby, missing for four days, and Shawn Hornbeck, missing for four years, were recovered in Missouri.

Despite what happened that night and the constant reminders that continue to haunt me years later, I wouldn’t change what happened. The animal that attacked me was a serial predator, a violent pedophile trolling my neighborhood in Lincoln, Rhode Island looking for young boys. He beat me, raped me, and I stayed alive. I lived to see him arrested, indicted and murdered. It might not have turned out this way if he had grabbed one of my friends or another kid from my neighborhood. Perhaps he’d still be alive. Perhaps there would be dozens of more victims and perhaps he would have progressed to the point of silencing his victims by murdering them.

Out of fear, shame and guilt, I’ve been silent for over three decades, not sharing with anyone the story of what happened to me. No more. The silence has to end. What happened to me wasn't my fault. The fear, the shame, the guilt have to go. It’s time to stop keeping this secret from the people closest to me, people I care about, people I love, my long-time friends and my family. It’s time to speak out to raise public awareness of male sexual assault, to let other victims know that they’re not alone and to help victims of rape and violent crime understand that the emotion, fear and memories that may still haunt them are not uncommon to those of us who have shared a similar experience.

For those who suffer in silence, I hope my story brings some comfort, strength, peace and hope.

My novel, Men in My Town, was inspired by these actual events. Men in My Town is available now at www.Amazon.com

For additional information, please visit the Men in My Town blog at www.meninmytown.wordpress.com

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SHARING KEITH - God Bless - together maybe our voices CAN make a difference!

Keeping Kids Healthy, Wealthy and Wise....

As a RAD instructor myself - I can't say how incredibly wonderful this type of program is to help nurture the health and wellness of our children.  There are just so many aspects in keeping them safe and healthy.  They are our future - let's make it a good one for them (they will be choosing the nursing homes we enter one day - let's make good choices for them now so the love and care is returned when we need it one day :)

Please check this great program out by clicking HERE :

As instructors for the radKIDS Personal Empower and Safety Education Program, we have worked with hundreds of kids who have been emotionally, physically, or sexually abused.  Their stories are what drives us to participate in this event.

Child abuse comes in many forms and impacts children of all ages.  Much work needs to be done to combat this problem and this is just one way we see that it can help.

These are difficult economic times for many but child abuse is a continuous difficult time for the defenseless.   Those who will be making this 20 mile trek will experience discomfort but nothing compared to the fear and pain kids feel everyday through abuse.

We are proud to provide safety education programs to kids ages 5 - 12 years of age through the radKIDS program.  We have seen it have positive results for those who have been abused through their empowerment and build up of personal self esteem.  These programs do work but not without the support of many.

Thank you for your donation to this valuable cause.  As we say in the radKIDS program, you DO make a difference.....one child at a time.

Jim and Sandra Baylor

radKIDS Instructors                                                                                                            RAD Texas Education, Inc.                                                                       www.radtexas.com

HAVE A SAFE, WONDERFUL & BLESSED WEEKEND - enjoy ....

BU Medical Student Held in Hunt for "Craigslist" Killer

I twittered (@executivemom133) on this story but I just couldn't get pieces of it out of my head. Not the story per-say but the theme of it....Predators.

As a parent, I was lead to believe in following my school's teachings on "stranger danger".  I know all to well that when it comes to sexual predators - that just isn't so.  85 - 90% of these predators are known to the victim.  But what about that "stranger danger" concept?

As adults do we forget about "stranger danger". As adults shouldn't we be smart enough not to blindly meet strangers by ourselves.  Yet, people continue to make themselves easy targets to Predators.  The internet makes it so very easy to lure trusting people to their lair.  Craigslist, Facebook, Myspace.  How does the Country Song go?  It's haunting and touching as Brad Paisley sings: "I'm so much cooler online".  It is so easy to hide behind the screen and keyboard that we can become anyone we want to be through the internet.  That includes hiding Predators.

Yes, I know this theme has been played out over and over again in the News and there are a million web sites which include Online Safety Tips - mine included but many of us think: That's not me, I'm safer than that, I would know a "bad person" if I saw him.

Guess what?  Even those trained in law enforcement don't always know the "bad guys" because they LOOK good! Most serial perpetrators couldn't get away with what they do if they looked "bad and scary" - we wouldn't trust them! True?

The story:  Markoff's arrest capped a massive search for a clean-cut man who had been allegedly been using the online classified ad service to prey on prostitutes and other women. His alleged crimes include what a prosecutor described as the "brutal murder" of Julissa Brisman, a 26-year-old masseuse who fought back against her attacker. Brisman was bashed in the head and shot three times last week on the 20th floor of the Marriott Copley Hotel, with the fatal bullet piercing her heart.

What his fiance and others say:   This morning Markoff's fiancée, Megan McAllister, defended him in an e-mail she sent to ABC News, according to Good Morning America's website. "Unfortunately you were given wrong information as was the public," McAllister wrote in the e-mail. "All I have to say to you is Philip is a beautiful person inside and out and could not hurt a fly! A police officer in Boston (or many) is trying to make big bucks by selling this false story to the TV stations. What else is new?? Philip is an intelligent man who is just trying to live his life so if you could leave us alone we would greatly appreciate it. We expect to marry in August and share a wonderful, meaningful life together."

One Person commented on Boston.com: The emerging facts of this case don't appear to fit with the profile of the suspect. I hope they get the right person (THIS is the very problem in our society - we don't want to BELIEVE  This person can do These things... sorry to say, that is proven reality)

Well, Ted Bundy's mom claimed that little Teddy was a wonderful person too, that he could NEVER hurt anyone, he was such "a good boy". Then, there is Scott Peterson, he was such "a good boy" also in his parents' eyes. Perhaps that is part of the problem, these folks never delved into these guy's lives, they saw ONLY what was on the surface and never looked below the calm waters to see the roiling storms underneath. Criminals hide their ugliness until they are caught.....then it is a "shock" to their friends and relatives. Do these families and friends really know what these people do when they are not looking??

I know that our Perpetrator is a wonderful, sweet fun loving guy who is an upstanding business man with a wonderful head for making money and is involved in his church, community and volunteer work.  He is Fantastic OTHER THAN THE FACT that he has molested numberous children between the ages of 8 and 18 over the last 50 years....one small glitch in the personality.  I guess what set me off today was the fact that I saw a picture of him on his granddaughters FB account.  What was he doing as we are fighting a Civil Trial to seek justice for his victims?  Sitting with his arm around an 8 year old with a smile on his face. 

These people are modern day Jeckle and Hydes. They blend well with society. Yet they are calculating, stalkers with a plan.... Remember, just because they are Good on the outside doesn't mean they aren't Rotten on the inside....like my son says when we are apple picking in the Fall - they are those beautiful shiny red apples that you pick, bite into and find mush and a worm!

Sorry folks - it's reality.  Just BE CAREFUL and make good SAFE choices while on the internet - you never know who you are talking to! My rant for the day - these people just make the hair on my neck stand up.

Your opinion?

Online Support for Parents of victim of Child Sexual Assault

As a secondary survivor of Child Sexual Assault, and as a parent suffering to understand the whys and hows, I have put together an online chat / message board with resources, books, and other information for those needed support and help and ideas for coping for both you and your children.  It has been a long hard road for us and I know the roller coaster will continue as the years pass by but since i was unable to find much help for myself I thought i'd use our experience to maybe help other parents along their journey.

Would love your input as well ...  I know there are others who have traveled this path before us and more who will follow so feel free to share what you think may help.

Thank you and God Bless -

MESSAGE BOARD / RESOURCES

OUR STORY

A LETTER TO OTHER PARENTS