Former MSU Rower and Rowing Coach Sexually Assaulted While Raising Money For Charity
Sad news coming from Lake Michigan today. A former MSU rower and rowing coach, Jennifer Gibbons, was sexually assaulted while trying to become the first person to row around Lake Michigan alone, all while raising money for her breast cancer survivor charity, Recovery on Water.
Cancer fundraiser Jennifer Gibbons said she would not be deterred from her goal of rowing completely around the circumference ofLake Michigan following a sexual assault against her this week.
Gibbons, 27, has been rowing 1,500 miles around the border of Lake Michigan by herself since early June to raise money and awareness for her cancer survivor charity, Recovery on Water.
On Sunday, however, as Gibbons prepared to begin rowing in the early morning hours toward Beaver Island near Michigan's Northern Peninsula, a man attacked her and sexually assaulted her, according to her website, Row 4 Row.
Here's a link to the full article: http://news.yahoo.com/woman-rowing-perimeter-lake-michigan-sexually-assaulted-180223465--abc-news-topstories.html
Here's a link to her charity's website: http://recoveryonwater.org/
And here's a link to her blog: http://row4row.org/
It's a terrible ordeal and it's rather empowering to see her carry on with her journey. I hope they catch the bastard who did that to her. Best of luck to her, and I'll be keeping her in my thoughts.
P.S. In the past, a few of the threads dealing with sexual assault have had to be locked. Let's try not to let that happen and let's keep the discussion civil here.
People like this and the Aurora shooter test my faith in humanity sometimes.
Not that it matters, but she is a former MSU rower, not Michigan.
My thoughts exactly. Sometimes a good story comes along, but I feel like there are too many of these.
People and places always took for granted as being safe and secure aren't that way anymore.
so that's why I wrote that. I'll go ahead and change it.
I hope she realizes her goals, and that he attacker is dissolved in an alkali bath.
The more time I spend with people, the more I appreciate my dogs.
Agreed. There is a reason dog is man's best friend. It wasn't just a fun slogan.
decent people don't make the news. this kind of stuff isn't normal. it's extreme, which is why it gets attention. I know you know this, it's just hard to remember when these stories make you feel shitty. hopefully the nice people outnumber the scumbags by a lot.
Absolutely disgusting.
My thoughts and prayers are with her.
I knew this girl in high school, same grade. I completely lost contact with her when I purged a lot of facebook friends that I wasn't talking to...then I see some of my current ones talking about this. Now it's all over the news.
I knew her as a strong minded girl but always a smile and I never saw her be rude to anybody. She looks to be using this as motivation, and I hope her the absolute best. I know she'll pull through.
Fucking people, man. The assaulter obviously knew what Jen was doing on the lake, according to reports. Who attacks a woman rowing for a great cause? I'm just disgusted.
Who attacks a woman, period?
I saw this sad story (not difficult, since it's *all* over the news nationally and locally) and can think of at least two reasons not to post it (sorry, OP):
* "In the past, a few of the threads dealing with sexual assault have had to be locked. Let's try not to let that happen and let's keep the discussion civil here." Indeed -- that happens even on a civilized site like this. So, why bother at all? As I noted earlier, it will be hard to miss unless your only WWW stop is MGoBlog.
* As with the numerous (but, thankfully, shrinking number of) random "OT: Person wholly unrelated to UMich sports passes away" posts, I can't imagine this spurring any interesting discussion. Other than "That's awful," what would any reasonable person say?
I read this a couple days ago in the Trib, and it never crossed my mind to link it. However, the MSU link (or, in this case, the inaccurate U of M connection given at Yahoo) provides at least a weak reason to post.
Just because the board has descended into chaos previously doesn't mean that it has to go that route.
I had not heard this story before, so I'm thankful it was posted.
If everyone accepted your argument that you shouldn't post something because the discussion may devolve into something uncivilized, then no one should post anything ever.
Some people need to rot in hell
her fundraising effort is truly remarkable. In a world that can be sometimes full of darkness, people like these are rays of light.
I have done fundraisers in the past, and the thing that makes you the happiest while doing them is getting more donations. So, I'm looking forward to getting home from work so that I can hop on her website and contribute to her charity.
Unfortunately, bad things do happen to good people and all you can hope is that some greater good comes out of it. I respect her for coming out with this story and hopefully she is stronger for this, the perp. goes to prison forever, some other woman learns some lesson from this and finds some way to prevent getting attacked herself, and people like us take the time to donate to her charity.
the thread should be nuked now.
He was applauding the "Row means Row," joke.
Yes, you're correct, that's precisely what I was doing.
Very astute.
That's truly sad that this happened; hopefully this does not deter he quest and the asaillant is left butt-naked on an ice slab in the middle of Lake Superior in December.
Good for her to continue and to go public on this. Her courage makes the apprehension of this rapist much more likely. She is a role model and leader.
And if they catch the perp, I hope he isn't given solitary, and that all the other prisoners in the block are informed of exactly what he did.
Northern Peninsula?
Sick. Disapointing. Distrubing. Sometimes I really don't like people.
I must say that we have to remember to stick together, and stand up for one another. Her courage in the face of adversity is a lesson that we should take to heart. For each terrible incident, there is also shades of the glory of mankind. When Pandora opened the infamous box, one of the few positives that came out was Hope.
I'm glad to hear she's continuing her journey and focusing on completing her goal, and I hope the sick bastard who did this to her is behind bars very soon.