"A Stolen Life" by Jaycee Dugard

"Lonely, that's how I feel. Lonely and incomplete. I want to run, but have no idea where to run to. I want to yell, but I don't want to hurt anybody. I want to say something, but I don't know what to say. Love is the easy part; it's the living without the love you need that is hard."
-Jaycee Dugard, A Stolen Life

Jaycee Dugard was 11 years old when she was kidnapped down the street from her very own home in Lake Tahoe. She was walking to meet the bus to go to school that morning when a man pulled up next to her, rolled down the window, and asked for directions. He immediately used a stun gun on her, and she fell to the ground. Jaycee tried to scramble away from him on the ground, but he grabbed her by her legs and threw her into the back of his vehicle. Shoving her in the floorboard, he covered her with a thick blanket and placed something heavy on top of her.

Unfortunately, this story is not fiction like the other books I write about. This week I decided to read a memoir. Everything in this post is true. Some of you may remember seeing about her story in the news. She was found and rescued recently in 2009, just four years ago. That man, Phillip Garrido, kept her captive for 18 years. I'm only 20, so I couldn't imagine being taken away from my family, my friends, and my entire world for 18 years. That is the majority of my lifetime.

I'm not going to go into detail about the physical and mental abuse Phillip Garrido put her through. I feel as though I have no right to try to explain her situation in my own words. I honestly have no words. There is no other way to explain what happened besides the way she does in her memoir. Her life was taken from her; not physically, but she didn't get to live her life. She never got to go to high school, or college. She never got to get her driver's license. She never had a first crush, first kiss, first love, or first anything. In 2009, when she was reunited with her mother, sister, and aunt, she finally got to experience things life had to offer her.

She got to begin a new life with her family, along with her two daughters. She had her first daughter when she was 14, and her second when she was 17. The girls were raised in Phillip Garrido's "backyard."

I've always seen these kinds of stories on the news, but I never really gave them much thought. They always seemed like just "stories." The news doesn't tell you how it affected the person, though. You only find out the facts: who was the victim, who was the criminal, what happened, when, where, how, etc. Reading A Stolen Life really made me realize what actually happens. It makes me sick that people actually treat other people in ways like Phillip Garrido treated Jaycee.

Read Jaycee Dugard's  memoir, A Stolen Life, and see what she went through.

Since her rescue, Jaycee has founded the JAYC foundation, Inc. (Just Ask Yourself to Care). The focus of JAYC is to serve families that have experienced abduction or other traumatic experiences through compassion and educational programs. You can give donations, purchase the book, or purchase apparel on the JAYC Web site (link provided above). Visit the site to see more information.