Lillian Lee is an amazing example of a woman who survived unimaginable evil and darkness, and transformed her pain into a life of love and light.
I asked her to tell me about how she has changed in the last 10 years.
"I am going to tell you that I was a very scary distraught individual, and she had to find herself. She had to find who she was, where she wanted to go, and who she wanted to be. And I have found myself, and I'm very proud of who I became and the beautiful butterfly that I came to be," Lee said.
Lee shared how her faith is the change factor that turned her life around.
"I would say I let God guide my hand and my heart through every obstacle that I've ever been through because I've had some challenging things in life. I had people that came into my life generally just to be there because of who I was, instead of understanding and loving me for who I am," Lee said.
Lee said after her rescue from Seymour Avenue she didn't have the support and care from her family, so she found that special love and understanding in animals.
Today, she has her own non-profit, Unleashed Animal Rescue, and connects animals to people who have experienced trauma.
“I get to just generally be in peace with the animals and they brought pure joy into my life at a difficult moment when there was no joy, there was no happiness and I didn't know where I was gonna go at that point," Lee said.
Lee calls them her rescue angels.
Another thing that brings her peace is her art, she uses it as a healing tool.
"I love my art because it's for me and it gave me a great way to release my frustration to my anger and just the things that were going on a daily basis," Lee said.
Lee said she feels that it's important to continue to share her triumph to-tragedy story.
"I want every young/old baby to know that they're not alone, that there's somebody that went through similar situations and that their story is important and their voice needs to be heard and they need that love," Lee said. "I want them to be able to come into their own. I want them to turn into that beautiful body."
