I'm online looking for information that I will probably never find. I have to say that I was horribly surprised to find that there are SO many men out there that are asking for help because they feel they are being abused in their relationships. I honeslty had no idea.

My 33 year old brother has just died in Colorado by his own decision. That's a hard enough pill to swallow, but I know he was in an abusive relationship for the past 5 years. We all knew. He called and reached out to his family and friends often, but never felt he could leave her becasue he loved her. I'm sure he did. It was just the kind of love that I'll never understand. It was one year to the week that he left her, flew home to us for a week, said he was leaving her for good, lived with a friend for more than a month, but for some reason decided to go back and be the only one to work on the relationship.

My advice to ANY one in this position is to get out. If you're the only one trying to make it work, it'll never work. Don't sacrifice yourself or your children for the sake of someone else. As I always told my brother, "you're worth more than that". I hope someone learns a lesson from our loss and makes a positive change for their own good.

-- Anonymous, July 24, 2003

Answers

You have our sincere condolences.

I'd say a LOT of people would be "horribly surprised" at the number of abused men, because this is the group that's been ignored and ridiculed for years.

-- Anonymous, July 24, 2003