Member-only story
“Let’s Pretend You’re Sick”
Like most parents, my greatest fear is that one of my children will die before I do. Just the thought that a child of mine would suffer through a life-threatening illness while I stood by helplessly-unable to take the pain or fear away-fills me with dread. I have been lucky enough to meet a few moms who’ve said they felt the same way I do before their child became seriously ill and have assured me that I-like they-would discover untapped wells of courage and resilience inside myself should I ever have to travel down that difficult road. Fortunately, to date, I haven’t.
Behind the Maternal Mask
Neither did Emily Creno, Juanita Garcia or Teresa Milbrandt. All three of these women were blessed with healthy children. Yet each of these parents created elaborate fictions in which they were the center of a plot involving a terminally ill child and heroic mother, playing to a generous, supportive, unsuspecting audience.
Online donors sent money. Communities held fundraisers. Parents with genuinely sick children offered emotional support. All for what turned out to be an elaborate hoax.
And elaborate it was. In fact, the lengths to which these parents were willing to go to keep the charade going was both astounding and heartbreaking:
- Emily Creno shaved her 5-year-old’s head and made him undergo more…