What Is a Girl Worth?: My Story of Breaking the Silence and Exposing the Truth about Larry Nassar and USA Gymnastics

And to Jacob, who has displayed strength and sacrificial love far beyond what I could ever have asked or imagined. You promised me in the beginning that the hand I held would only ever be used to care for me, and you have kept your word at every point. You have sought my good when it cost you greatly. You have willingly given up desires so you coul

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. EPHESIANS 3:20-21

I knew from you that the work of healing was hard, but possible.

The floodgates had opened. We didn’t know, as we sat in the courtroom with tears streaming down our faces, that the world had begun to take notice. But as each woman stood to face her abuser and speak the truth, the world was coming face-to-face with the damage of sexual assault in a way it never had before. Jane Doe had a name. She had a story. Sh

So much work remains. So much evil to fight. So much healing to reach for. So many wounded to love. Consider this your invitation to join in that work. To do what is right, no matter the cost. To hold to the straight line in the midst of the battle. To define your success by faithfulness in the choices you make. The darkness is there, and we cannot

There were bright spots too, like the day Coach Tom Brennan accompanied one of his athletes to the witness stand, and the world got to see what it looked like when an adult responded properly to allegations of abuse.[1] I wanted to cry as I heard Tom explain that he’d been a longtime friend of Larry’s—a colleague, even. Larry was his advisor after

I submit to you that the preeminent question in this case as you reach a decision about how best to satisfy the dual aims of this court is the same question that I asked Judge Neff to consider in Larry’s federal sentencing: How much is a little girl worth? How much is a young woman worth?

The federal judge went ballistic at sentencing since I pled guilty to the state cases. . . . I was sentenced to 60 years. Not proper, appropriate, fair. . . . I tried to avoid a trial to save the stress to this community, my family, the victims, yet look what is happening. . . . I was a good doctor because my treatments worked, and those patients t

“And it was not for any medical purpose; is that correct?” “What?” Larry blurted out in confusion and frustration. He had refused to put that in his statements and couldn’t be forced to, because it wasn’t in the statute. I gasped slightly as I realized what the judge was doing. She had the power to ask clarifying questions, and she was requiring hi