Former NHL player Sheldon Kennedy says sex abuse turned him into ‘a zombie’
CALGARY — Sheldon Kennedy says being sexually abused for years by his junior hockey coach Graham James turned him from a “goofy, slightly mixed-up kid” who dreamed of the future into little more than “a zombie.”
The former NHL player turned advocate for sexual abuse victims still seems ill at ease when talking about his own experiences, even though he was the first victim to come forward 20 years ago.
But talk about them he does. On Monday, he was before an international audience of front-line agencies, policy-makers and researchers from 42 countries sharing ideas on how to protect children from abuse and neglect.
Pacing back and forth on stage at a conference of the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, an emotional Kennedy recounted the circumstances that began when he was playing for the Western Hockey League’s Swift Current Broncos.