THE HISTORY OF D.C.A.C. METRIE'S RIDE FOR KIDS

A story of child abuse:

Michael's Story... 

As parents we think we know everything there is to know about raising good strong, healthy children, then something extreme happens, you quickly realize what you thought you knew as a parent is obsolete and irrelavent... it all goes by the way side because life or raising children did not come with instructions.  There is not a guide on how to cope with tragedy, murder or the stresses of a little boy who is two years old and knows his mother and father are  gone. A little boy who isn’t sure why, how, or who. He only knows what he can make sense of. He will soon only know how to act out.

This is the instruction book we would write on the subject "Tragedy."   

Michael was 2 when my sister was murdered and this would embark a huge obstacle for all of us to overcome, a test of faith and a tribulation that only GOD pulled us through.  It the services such as the Denver Children's Advocacy Center that gives families the hopes and aspiration to one day be as close to normal as possible. 

Michael has been receivig therapy at the Center since 2005.  Over the years Michael has learned who murdered his mother, he has learned to redirect his own anger and aggressions, recognize his emotions and take responsibility for his actions.  This now 6year old is much wiser than most adults I have ever known and just as responsible. 

Not only has the Denver Children's Advocay Center  provided one on one therapy with Michael, but they aslo provided therapy for each of us family that were struggling with the death of my sister; but they have also provided play and puppy therapy with Michael to help him work through his trauma.  We have leanred ways to support Michael and each other through his grief as well as our own.

Violence in familes is all too common - it is a cycle that has no economic, race, religion or gender boundary or bias. 

Michael was 1 of 18 children treated at DCAC in 2005 after experiencing the violent death of his mother and the incarceration of his father.  However, not all families are like us...  We chose to make a difference with our tragedy, we chose instead, not to pass judgement (that is for GOD), not to make accusations and recriminations because Micael is loved by both his maternal and paternal families.

Instead we chose to forgive my brother-in-law and include his paternal grandmother in his upbringing as well as his therapy sessions.  One day Michael will be a man, one day he will have questions and decisions of his own that need to be made.  He will need to make them as a man of his own mind and free will, not that of any other. 

My sister was Dometria Carbajal - hence "Metrie's Run" and she would have wanted things done this way if she were alive, she would have wanted our priorities to be for children without a voice and about the children that need a defender...  And this is how I pay tribute to her...

I honor her by maintaing a healthy life for her son Michael.  She is gone, nothing I do will bring her back, so until I see my baby sister at the Pearly Gates I have to make this life about the one precious posession she has left behind... a boy named Michael.

Our cause is not just about Michael or my sister, it is about thousands just like him of physical/sexual abuse and the 500 victims of confirmed incest in the state.  It is about voicing an intollerance of family violence for those women who have lost theirs at the hands of their abusers.  It is about taking accountability for the actions of the adults in this state that have abused the undying trust a child has in someone they believe is their PROTECTOR. 

This is why PALADIN supports any facility that provides FREE services to abused children and women, but more specifically the FAMILY TREE. Paladin fights for those who are broken andhave lost their voice, to empower  children and women of unsolicited circumstance, to assure them there is a group of people that feel their pain, have lived it and have pulled through it whole.   Everyone has a fighting for hope, opportunity and the right to live a healthy and normal life.  Everyone deserves the resources available to them. It may be too late for my sister, but it will never be too late to A SURVIVOR.

A CHILDS CHANCES (VERY SCARY STATS):

Chances in becoming an ATHLETE 1 in 1,000,000
Chances in becoming a ROCK STAR 1 in 500,000
Chances of a boy being MOLESTED 1 in 7
Chances of a girl being MOLESTED 1 in 3

Our children are at greater risk of falling victim to a predator than they are of becoming what they have dreamed of.