When I left the sport, I was 17 and I was a broken individual. I was in a mental health crisis. I attempted suicide. I was seeing a mental health professional. The difficulty my family has gone through in the years since I left the sport has been immense. It's been five years now, and it will be a part of our lives for years to come.
No parent wants to send their child into an environment that they believe is abusive, yet few children recognize their own situation as being abusive when they're in it. I didn't know what happened to me was wrong, so I didn't come home and say something was wrong. The guilt they feel from that is a difficult thing for all of us, I think, to come to terms with.