One in six boys are sexually abused before the age of 18, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
But Greg LeMond, the three time Tour de France winner, says the numbers may be even higher because it's not something most male victims ever talk about or report. The bicyclist was in Kansas City yesterday, where he spoke publicly for the first time about having been sexually abused as a child by a family friend. He says after nearly three decades of feeling ashamed about it, he's finally been able to accept that the abuse wasn't his fault.
LeMond: I would love to turn back the clock at the age of the abuse, but it happened. I can't change the past. All I can do is change the future and how I react to that.
LeMond says he's now working with doctors from Harvard to develop an online support program for male survivors of child sexual abuse. The bicyclist came to Kansas City for an event organized by Sunflower House, a local child abuse prevention center.
Funding for health care coverage on KCUR has been provided by the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City.
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