Thursday, September 10, 2026 marks the 33rd anniversary of the day that changed my life forever. It was a day that started out like every other and ended with me in a near-death experience. Luckily I survived a brutal attack, kidnapping, rape and gun violence, and am here all these many years later to talk about the impact of trauma on one’s mental health.

Looking back on that first year after the attack, I can see just how bitter I had become. After the initial heartbreak and devastation of facing permanent injury wore off, I was just angry. Angry that I would never have the athletic career I’d imagined. Angry that I’d never have the life I’d imagined.

Surviving a traumatic event does not mean its effects simply disappear once the physical scars heal. Understanding and learning to live with the invisible scars—including PTSD, anxiety, disrupted sleep and grief—can take much longer.

Healing is not a linear journey. It is a constant back-and-forth, at least for me. There have been many moments in my life like this. In the early years, I thought those moments meant I was regressing—that I had somehow undone the healing I had worked so hard for. But over time, I came to understand something different.