Ultra-marathoner Spreads Awareness About Violence Against Women
By Spectrum News Staff
PUBLISHED 1:34 PM ET Apr. 01, 2019
Spectrum News 1 Anchor Giselle Fernandez and LA Stories catch up with Norma Bastidas of Stevenson Ranch. She’s an ultra-marathoner and extreme endurance athlete who took up running at age 39 in hopes to raise awareness of the health condition causing her son to go blind.
As she garnered attention and accolades for her remarkable athletic accomplishments, including breaking the world record for completing the world’s longest triathlon, her traumatic childhood that she had never spoken of continued to haunt her. Finally, she decided to break her silence and shame.
Norma revealed that she was sexually abused as child in Mexico as well as an adult trapped in a Tokyo human trafficking ring disguised as a modeling opportunity. Today, she continues to travel the planet accomplishing life threatening physical feats and using her platform to draw attention to sexual violence against women. Norma shares with Giselle the importance of her work with the East LA Women’s Center, which helps sexual abuse survivors like her.
Not long ago, Norma spoke about human trafficking at the United Nations.