My Foundation: A Young Woman’S Struggle Letting Go of the Storm Within and Heartbreak of Her Past

By K.G. Valentine

Giving Thanks

I wanted to take the time and thank all of you who stuck by me during my horrendous struggle. There have been so many people that I have come in contact with over the years, and I wanted to say Im sorry for anything I might have done that offended or hurt you. Shortly after my husband and I met, he made a comment to me that I didnt give much merit to until now: Dont complain about the things that you have the power to change. And I now follow that advice to my new everyday life! I also remember a wise person once told me, Its not what you do while youre here on earth but the legacy that you leave behind! This is the beginning of my legacy!
Thank you to all my family and friends for hanging in there with me. I give my utmost apologies for anything I might have ever done to hurt you. I love you all very much! I am grateful to God every day for you and all that you have done for me!
Thank you to my church family for trying to keep in touch with me, letting me know you were all still there for me! I appreciate it more than youll ever know! I think it would be safe to say that all your prayers for me have been answered!
I wanted to say thank you to Jim Carrey, Adam Sandler, and Jeff Dunham for giving me many laughs during my long struggle! Im sure you might think its silly, but those laughs helped me in more ways than you could ever imagine! I also want to say thank you to Marshall Mathers. You showed me to be proud of where I came from, and even though we may have been involved with some nightmarish ordeals while growing up, we are still important people in Gods eyes! I want to give a special thank-you to Pink for helping me realize that surviving our struggles doesnt mean that we are damaged goods, but we are pretty freakin incredible! For those of you who like to make mean, nasty, hurtful comments about people, please think twice before saying anything else about any one!
Thank you, God, for never giving up on me even when I felt you had every right to! I have chosen you to be the first priority in my life! I love you with all my heart and soul for creating your son and sending him to die for me! That type of sacrifice to save the people you love is truly on a level that is completely mind-blowing and can never be fully appreciated as long as there are people out there who continue to deny you! People say fairy tales dont exist, and I guess I would have to agree but not because I dont think they exist but because what you did to save all of us, all your sinful people whom you created, far outweigh the happy endings in any old fairy tale! There were times when both my parents had really hurt me and let me down, but we all have our imperfections, and with that being said, I have completely forgiven them for everything! But you, my heavenly Father, have never let me down, and I know that you never will! Thank you for taking away my lifelong pain and anger, turning it into knowledge, courage, and strength! I only hope to make you proud and truly be that person you had created me to be!
Thank you to everyone for reading this book. God had so many opportunities to take me out of this world, but I am praying you all realize that having the chance to read this book is exactly why he didnt!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Apr 5, 2013
• ISBN: 9781483600147

Book preview

My Foundation

A Young Woman’s Struggle

Letting Go of the Storm Within

and Heartbreak of Her Past

A True Story

K.G. Valentine

Copyright © 2013 by K.G. Valentine.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Names and places have been changed to protect the privacy of all individuals. The events and situations are true.

Rev. date: 3/29/2013

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

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Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter One My Creation

Chapter Two My Childhood

Chapter Three The Split

Chapter Four Settling In

Chapter Five Time for Change

Chapter Six Facing the Storm

Chapter Seven Trying to Cope

Chapter Eight Facing Survival

Chapter Nine Creating Life

Chapter Ten A New Challenge

Chapter Eleven A New Family

Chapter Twelve Surviving Heartbreak

Chapter Thirteen Our Country in Crisis

Chapter Fourteen Facing More Changes

Chapter Fifteen The Storm Returns

Chapter Sixteen A New Beginning

Chapter Seventeen A New Mission

Chapter Eighteen The Cleanup After the Storm

Chapter Nineteen Our Foundation

Chapter Twenty The Lost Truth

Chapter Twenty-one A Change of Pace

Chapter Twenty-two Giving Thanks

Introduction

I wanted to share my story because of several teenage suicides recently occurring in areas near my home. The commonality between these suicides is that they were all just fifteen years old. There is nothing too severe or too devastating that could occur in your life that is worth dying over! I know this because I am living proof of that! We grow to a time in our lives when we start having the ability to make our own decisions and make our own choices. But we must remember that not only can our choices carry severe consequences but also that we are going to be held accountable for them someday. I want you to know that you are never alone in your struggles even though it might seem like you are! You may not realize it, but feeling like you are all alone and trying to handle these situations on your own are simply choices that you are making! It took me twenty-five years to realize that there are always other options! Don’t waste twenty-five years of your life making the wrong choices like I did! If sharing this story manages to help save one person in crisis, then it has all been worth it!

Chapter One

My Creation

So there it was—Wednesday, August 29, 1973. It was an extremely hot summer day, and unknowingly, I was about to be pulled away from the safety and comfort of my mother’s womb! This would be the last day I would receive any genuine form of nurturing, protection, and love from the two people who created me and made the many preparations for my arrival.

It was the Thursday night of August 30, 1973. The painful process of labor had started for my mother. It was very long and torturous for her. Later in life, she felt the need to make me aware of this multiple times. Why she felt the need to tell me this when I was old enough to understand, you will soon discover later on in this story. Most importantly, what was about to be the most unimaginable and horrifying storm was on its way. A raging storm that was going to be my life!

I was born late at night on Thursday, August 30, at a regional medical center located in North Central Pennsylvania. I was born weighing eight pounds seven ounces, but while being examined by the doctor and nurses, they quickly noticed that something was very wrong! My skin was severely jaundiced, and a simple blood test sparked panic with the staff! I was cleaned off very quickly and wrapped tightly in a blanket. I was picked and carried by Marsha, an obstetrics nurse on duty that night, briskly to my father’s 1967 red Mustang. Marsha had never even met my mother or father prior to this night. With no time to wait for the next available ambulance to transport me to a children’s specialty hospital in Pittsburgh, they drove off to get to this hospital as quickly as they could! My chances of survival were yet to be determined. Approaching the area of the hospital, they were only one block away when the engine in my father’s Mustang had overheated, causing it to completely shut down. In the year 1973, this children’s hospital of Pittsburgh was located just off Fifth Avenue, a different location to where it is located today. In this time (1973), medevac helicopters were not yet available. My father, being in a frantic state of mind, said to Marsha, Do you think we should just walk from here? Marsha quickly replied, No way, we can’t, it is way too dangerous! My father and Marsha waited in the car until it would cool down enough to start up again. Marsha kept rocking me in her arms to try to soothe me the best she could. After waiting for ten minutes, the car restarted, and they set off to travel that last block. They had finally made it to the hospital, where I so desperately needed to be!

When they arrived at the hospital, Marsha was still holding me tightly in her arms. The jaundice of my skin being so brightly visible, she ran directly into the emergency department doors! The staff there quickly attended to me, placing me into an incubator. The hospital staff at that time did not allow my father any access to be with me. My father and Marsha decided to make the journey back to the hospital where my mother was waiting. My father dropped off Marsha at her home in Sykesville on the way back. She was so gracious, putting the needs of an ill newborn before her own that night. I would like to sincerely thank her for her kindness, compassion, and professionalism. I also thank her for giving her own time, traveling with my father to help save me, with both of us being absolute strangers! Marsha, if you are out there, I thank you for what you did to help me that night! May God bless you for your selfless, courageous acts! I hope someday to find you and thank you in person!

My father had returned to my mother, who was overly consumed with worry! He told her that when I was taken away by the staff and placed in the incubator, he wasn’t allowed access to be with me at all! My parents took this unpermitted access as a very bad sign! The hospital staff promised to call them with any new information. They promised to report anything that they learned was going on with me, their newborn daughter, who was now named Kimberlee Gene. After several tests were completed, the doctors came up with the diagnosis of blood ABO incompatibility. This is a rare but deadly blood condition! What does this mean exactly? My father had a blood type of AB+, and my mother had a blood type of O-; my blood type at birth was showing ABO, which is not compatible for someone to live. For me to have any chance of survival, I would need multiple blood transfusions until my blood type would hopefully stabilize. Plus on top of that condition, I was the second-born Rh baby of the family. This made chances of my survival even more difficult! Back at this time, they didn’t have RhoGAM injections for the Rh- mothers. These injections would stop the mother’s blood cells from destructing the blood cells of the fetus while in utero. I must say that the odds were definitely not in my favor!

I had spent two whole weeks in this children’s hospital. I had received multiple blood transfusions along with many other treatments until my blood type became stable. With my blood type stabilizing at A-, I was able to be discharged and go see my new home. My parents drove to Pittsburgh to pick up their two-week-old daughter. They would finally have the chance to bond with me, but I still had to be taken to the hospital every week to have my blood tested as a precautionary measure. As I started to grow, everything was looking pretty normal, but I was always showing a low weight. My doctors were not concerned by this because I was