Watching your child grow up should be one of the happiest and most fulfilling experiences you can have, but for Kelly Felstead, it had always been tainted. As her son turned four, she was reminded of the horrific abuse she had suffered at the same age and how, more than 25 years on, she was still keeping her pain secret from her family and friends.
Aside from her loving husband, nobody knew how she had been sexually abused by the brother of a family friend in a sickening campaign lasting nearly three years, ending shortly before her seventh birthday. They didn't know how the innocent, happy child still learning about the world around her had been violated two or three times a week by someone she trusted.
And they didn't know how her traumatic memories had continued to haunt Kelly deep into adulthood, with vivid flashbacks pushing her into a mental breakdown and crippling bouts of depression and anxiety. You can read her full heartbreaking account here.
