I met a remarkable woman recently. She demonstrated the human - almost superhuman - ability to rise above the most appalling trauma and carry on with life.

Susan (all names have been changed for legal reasons) was sexually abused throughout her childhood - by the man she called dad, his father and brother.

Then, just when she started to get her life back together, a close family member accused Susan of committing indecent assaults when they were children.

This led to six months of sheer hell for Susan, her family and her business. Recently the Crown Prosecution Service offered no evidence on the charges and she was found not guilty.

Susan doesn't want revenge. Remarkably, she just wants to move on, but also wants to say thank you to those family members, friends and colleagues who supported her through this traumatic time.

Susan's is a truly shocking story of what goes on in other people's homes, behind closed doors.

A seemingly respectable, unremarkable family to outsiders; for the victims within the home the story was entirely different.

Sexual abuse had occurred across the generations - and only stopped when Susan finally found the courage to tell her husband - after they had been married for 20 years - what had happened in her past.

Her grandfather had died by this time, but her father and his brother were duly charged with rape and indecent assault. Her father is serving a jail sentence for his crimes.

Susan cannot remember when the abuse started.

She knows that by the age of seven she was sexually aware, which indicates that it had begun by then.

The abuse only stopped when she left home to go to college, but even then she was so afraid that the abusers might move on to target her younger sister that she gave up her course and returned home.

Her father adopted her as a toddler when he married her mother, and the couple went on to have children of their own.

He used to tell Susan that he was doing it for her own good.

"He said that he wanted to be my first sexual partner, because he knew an excited teenager would only hurt me," she says.

"He used to tell me I was helping mum out, because she was too busy and tired for sex because of my younger siblings."

Susan's mother had no idea what was going on in her own home, and although Susan is adamant that her father didn't threaten her to keep her silent, nevertheless she never said a word.

It is truly remarkable to hear her talk about her father - and the fact that she actually continued to visit her parents after she had left home, out of a misguided belief that she was somehow protecting her mother from knowing what sort of man she had married.

In fact, she and her father never acknowledged his actions once they had ceased following her marriage to John, until she was discharged from hospital after suffering some serious gynaecological complications a few years ago.

Her father was desperate to know if the hospital had guessed what he had done to Susan, and whether her condition was as a result of the abuse.

"I had a flashback; it took me right back to when I was a child and he used to come into my bedroom.

"I had forgotten, but he used to make a sort of clicking noise in his throat before instigating sex, and he did it that day when he asked me about my operation."

Susan finally broke down one night - in a local pub enjoying a quiet drink with husband John - and told him what had happened in her past.

She then spoke to her mother and other family members and finally the police. She has nothing but praise for the police and the way they handled the case with sensitivity and concern.

So how shocking for her just a few months later to find herself on the other side of the fence as the accused rather than accuser.

"They were just doing their job," she protests. "They were very professional, but I just couldn't believe what they were saying.

"I was bailed to return to the police station pending further investigations. I knew there was no evidence because I was not guilty of any of these offences. I knew they couldn't charge me because what my accuser said was just untrue. So when they did I was staggered."

"But it seemed so unreal. I was terrified. I said to my solicitor, 'What if they find some evidence to convict me?

"He just looked at me and said, 'You didn't do this, did you?' 'No, of course not', I told him. 'Then there is no evidence to find, is there?' he said."

"And, true enough, when it came to court, there was no evidence, and I was found not guilty."

But it has been nothing short of hell for Susan.

The false accusations hit her badly. She feels that she has always coped with the sexual abuse by putting it out of her mind and concentrating on the present rather than on the past. But these allegations affected not only her but also those close to her - and that was most painful of all.

It has also, obviously, ripped her family apart.

There is almost no-one on her father's side of the family that speaks to her, following her father's conviction, and now other family members have distanced themselves from her following the allegations against her.

And while, unbelievably, she was always able to maintain some sort of contact with her father, despite her suffering at his hands, she is adamant there is no way that she and her false accuser will ever be able to redeem their relationship.

"It was all lies. There is no way we can go back after that."

Susan is reluctant to see herself as an inspiration. She is a survivor - but says she had no other choice but to survive and to get on with her life for the sake of those she loves.

Her husband, John, is no less remarkable. He has seen Susan through the darkest of times, been an unwavering, solid support for her and their children.

It is that support that makes her determined to move on - a true example of the power of love to combat even the worst of experiences.