My sister and I were abused as children many years ago by an uncle. We were between 4 and 10 years old. I have been able to put it behind me, for the most part, but it has ruined my sister's life. We are now 62 and 56, and the uncle is about 78. My sister has wanted to press charges against him but we did not want to hurt our mother. She died July 1999 so that is no longer a consideration. My sister, who is now very ill, visited with me for two weeks and told me more details about what my uncle had done. I am now tempted to join her to press charges against him because I do not think my sister will ever be happy unless this is revealed and he is punished for what he did. The problem is he lives in North Carolina and Florida, I live in Virginia and my sister lives in Georgia. I do not know what to do. Also, I am embarrassed to have anyone know I have such a bad person in my family and people may feel differently about us if they know what happened to us as children. I guess I want to know what others have done and what has been the outcome for the abused.

Annette