PAGE 2-A - HOGANSVILLE HOME NEWS - MARCH 30, 2000
Victim as a Child - Inspiration to Others as an A
I
By Bryan GetarlStaff
A SURVIVOR of abuse and incest victim as a child, Susan Kesegich
has written a book, "Twisted Roots of Evil" to speak out on behalf
of children who are victims of this horrible crime.
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By Bryan Geter
Associate Editor
A former HogansviUe resi-
dent, Susan Kesegich, now a
Destin, Florida area resident
wants to tell the world her story.
For years Susan carried around
the guilt and pain that comes with
being a victim of incest and phys-
ical abuse. That was until she
decided to speak out about her
past instead of holding it in.
Susan was born in Atlanta, but
lived most of her childhood years
in Troup and Newton Counties.
Her rural, backwoods type of
upbringing gave no indication of
the strength she possessed.
As a young child, she suffered
the horror of incest. She was
abused, beaten, and forced to care
for the entire family while her
mother worked and her father
stayed home.
"I never had a childhood,"
said Kesegich. "I had to grow up
at a very young age and accept
responsibility others took on
many years later in their life."
This 'maturity beyond her
years' has served Susan well
while she gives advice to other
survivors of abuse and incest.
"The fact at I went through the
same thing so many others are
trying to overcome, gives added
weight to my words," Kesegich
explains. "People tend to listen to
someone when they know you
have suffered what they are feel-
ing."
She did not start out to be an
advocate, it happened mostly by
chance...
"Around 1989, I did not talk
much about what had happened
to me as a child. I felt it was my
pain and I should not burden oth-
ers with it. Then a friend who
knew about the abuse I endured
growing up asked me to talk to a
friend of theirs who also had been
abused growing up.
"As we talked about the feel-
ings this person had bottled up
inside her, I realized how much
better I felt talking about my own
pain," she said. "I was not only
able to help her but help myself
as well. I thought there must be
many other women who would
benefit from opening up about the
pain from their past."
With the help and encourage-
ment of her husband, Susan start-
ed to write down her memories
while finding avenues to help
other victims. She volunteered at
a local Council to Prevent Child
Abuse office. While there she
worked with abused children as
well as counseling teenage moth-
ers. She helped them understand
the difficulties they were going
to face and to not let any kind of
abuse happen to their child.
Another volunteer effort she
undertook was training to be a
CASA (Court Appointed Special
Advocate) representative. This
training taught her laws, chil-
dren's rights, negotiation tech-
niques, and many other strate-
gies to use in this position where
she would be the court appoint-
ed 'voice' for the child in court
cases.
Ultimately she decided to take
it to another level. "I want to reach
as many people as possible,"
Kesegich said.
In the summer of 1999,
Kesegich decided to put all the
notes and ramblings she had been
Keep Beneficiary
Information Current
GALL TODAY for a quick
over the phone qualification.
706-652-1259
14388-724-2277 TOLL FREE
writing into book form. In con-
junction with her book, "Twisted
Roots of Evil," she and her hus-
band Steve launched a web site
(www.twist-of-fate.com) for sur-
vivors where they can send their
stories and poems of hope and
survival.
"You don't realize how many
people have suffered as chil-
dren," she said. "I want to do my 786-1823. The price i
own small part in helping as many $17.95 plus $2.50
of them as possible realize they handling.
did nothing wrong.
victim of a crime. B
I will feel like I hay
itive contribution tx
"Twisted Roots
out in December. t
copy is available byl
Kesegich at '
Publishing Co., E
Destin, FL 32540 or i!!
Author Provtdes
to Abuse Survivor I
By Bryan Geter it's your father d [!
sociate Editor ing?" Kesegich no
victims the chancel
cate with someone
through the pain tlu
ing by logging onto
http'J/www.twist-of-
Kesegichtoldth
last week she and
have emptied theft
into the book. 'Tee !
for money as some i
In an effort to
help, Kesegich do
the purchase price
book sold to a diff¢
every month. Evena
wants to open a faC
people can go for inf
lowship, or a place t
abuse.
She is available
groups or for media
Her book, Twisted It
is available on-line at
or by calling toll fro
1823. She is also a
speaking engagem
Susan is curren
a book about a your
was living on the
Atlanta, addicted
cocaine, and how sh
drugs and the street
An abuse and incest victim as
a child, Susan Kesegich has strug-
gled to understand how this crime
could have happened to her and
her sisters. Born into a poor, rural
family that often went without
food, electricity and plumbing,
Kesegich and her four siblings
suffered extreme neglect and
sexual, mental and physical
abuse.
Spurred by an overwhelming
desire to help other victims of
incest and abuse, Susan wrote
Twisted Roots of Evil to raise a
voice against this horrible crime
against children. "One of the main
reasons that I wrote Twisted
Roots of Evil is because there are
a lot of people out there who are
still being abused or who were
abused. People can surviveghis
and still live a normal life,"
Kesegich said.
For victims to know they have
someone they can turn to for
advice and compassion is a neces-
sity in our modern society. Susan
did not have that. She said, "I
wanted a father I could run to ff
someone was hurting me. But
what are you supposed to do when
Many Georgia veterans may
be running the risk of having
unintended beneficiaries collect
on their insurance simply
because they have failed to keep
their beneficiary designations
current.
"For example," said Georgia
Commissioner of Veterans
Affairs Pete Wheeler, "if a veter-
an marries after taking out his
GI Insurance and doesn't remem-
ber to name his bride as benefi-
ciary, most likely the veteran's
parents would still be the desig-
nated beneficiaries."
Wheeler added, 'q'hen there's
the all-too-frequent case where a
veteran gets a divorce, remarries
but forgets to update his insur-
ance by naming his new wife as
beneficiary. Unfortunately, the
veteran's first wife remains the
legal beneficiary."
Another regrettable situation
develops, Wheeler said, "when a
veteran has additional children
born since he last made a bene-
ficiary designation, and he fails
to add their names as beneficia-
ries. Upon the death of the veter-
an, these later children do not
share in the veteran's insurance
benefits."
Wheeler said that veterans
should help their families avoid
a lot of confusion and unpleas-
antness by periodically review-
ing their insurance policies and
making any changes necessary
to keep designated beneficiaries
up to date.
"It is vitally important that
veterans keep the VA advised of
any changes in their family sta-
tus," Wheeler concluded,
"because insurance policy bene-
ficiaries cannot be changed by a
'last will and testament."
Any Georgia Department of
Veterans Service office will glad-
ly assist veterans in updating ben-
eficiary designations on their
insurance policies.
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