Bernenda Marc

But something was just stopping me from telling my parents because of knowing how their old ways and sadly like thinking that and hearing stories of people coming out and their parents like kicking them out of the house and things like that.

At this point, I'm 25 years old.

So many people are like, you just come out, it's okay.

But I just didn't want to see that disappointment from my parents' face.

It was a very hard thing to come to because I was also dealing with survivor's guilt.

I was dealing with the fact that I'm here and Christine is no longer here.

I was dealing with a lot of hurdles even after that because after the crash, three weeks later, I find out my dad has stage four cancer.

He passes away that December.

And then a year after that,

In 2019, my mom's cancer comes back that she just beat.

And it comes back with avention.

And then she passes away October 25th, 2019.

So it was like back-to-back hits.

It was very hard for me to be able to express myself because at the time, I was trying to survive.

Yeah, you're buried.

I'm trying to survive mentally.

And knowing me, I distract myself with being busy.

So was I successful during that time?

Absolutely.

Career-wise, I was pursuing a lot, military and law enforcement at the same time.