Mar 5 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Jaycee Dugard is showing herself to be one of the strongest, bravest people I have ever seen. She was kidnapped when she was just 11 years old, by Phillip and Nancy Garrido, (they have pled not guilty to rape and kidnapping charges, although Phillip is a known violent sex offender)and held captive for 18 years, used as a sex slave by Phillip, and denied many things that we all take for granted in life. She gave birth to 2 daughters, allegedly fathered by Garrido, when she was just a child herself, and she and her 2 children lived in a tent, with a dirt floor in the backyard of her captive’s home. After almost two decades in captivity, treated as property, kept away from people, and de-socialized, this child came home in August of 2009. I remember the day that the story was all over the news, I literally cried tears, both in gladness of the miracle, and in sadness of what she had gone through. I made the statement then, “She will never be able to be around people and have a normal life, she is simply too emotionally scarred. I am truly happy for the family, but they have no idea what this is going to be like for her.” Well Jaycee has proven me wrong, and I could not be more proud of someone I do not even know.

ABC News has released the first videos of Jaycee since her homecoming. She seems happy, and well-adjusted, much more so than I would have expected her to be in several years, much less a few months. The video first shows Jaycee’s mother, Terry Proban, thanking everyone for their support, and asking that the media please give them privacy. She has released the video exclusively to “20/20″ in an effort to let America know how well Jaycee is doing, and in hopes that this will get the press to back down. They want their privacy so that the healing process can continue. The entire video can be seen on 20/20 tonight at 9 ET. A few clips can be seen here. In the video you can see Jaycee laughing as she makes a mistake while decorating Christmas cookies. “I’ve never gotten to decorate a cookie before.” she says. That simple statement tells so much. So many things this 29 year old has missed out on, has turned into so many “firsts” that she will get to celebrate with her mother, her sister, and her daughters.Later in the video, Jaycee, smiling in a pink baseball cap, looks into the camera and says, “Hi, I’m Jaycee, “I want to thank you for your support and I’m doing well … It’s been a long haul, but I’m getting there.”

One thing that is for certain, Jaycee Dugard is not a kidnapping “victim,” this girl is a survivor!