A year ago, it was reported that an Australiam mother has "been charged with deliberately feeding her daughter anti-cancer drugs as part of an Internet scam to raise money," according to The Daily Mail.
For about 10 months, the mother in question had "systematically poisoned" her little girl, aged four, with chemotherapy drugs, despite the fact that the child didn't need them as she has not been diagnosed with the disease.
According to Time, the girl's 23-year-old mom had acquired cyclophosphamide, a cancer treatment drug, from the Internet. The lesser side effects of the said drug includes impaired fertility and hair loss. However, the child eventually fought a lung infection and suffered a near-fatal bone marrow failure as a result of the poisoning.
"Police revealed the mother had posted a fund-raising page on Facebook, telling people her daughter was 'extremely ill' and claiming her daughter had a rare illness," the British publication reported. "Doctors baffled by the toddler's mysterious illnesses had begun looking for a bone marrow donor and the woman posted: 'If nothing changes she will be dead in six months without a transplant... I WILL NOT BURY MY DAUGHTER!!! Xx'"
The woman was not named in order to protect the child's identity.
Additionally, doctors had initially told the young mother that her daughter "could be suffering from leukaemia or auto-immune disease." However, once cleared, the child was sent home in the hopes of making a recovery at home. She went back to the hospital a few weeks later as her nose and gums bled and her skin had "rash-like bruises."
Prosecutors had said that her motive for poisoning her daughter was attention. "The woman turned to Facebook to chronicle the ongoing 'fight for life,' attempting to evoke sympathy by describing the stricken child's dire need for a bone-marrow transplant," Time said.
Currently, the girl has since recovered from her near brush with death and has been placed in the care of her grandparents. Her mother was subsequently "sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty to grievous bodily harm."
"The crime carries a maximum penalty of 25 years' imprisonment in Australia," the American news source added.
The woman's legal representatives had said that she was diagnosed with factitious disorder by proxy, or "the deliberate production or feigning of physical or psychological signs or symptoms in another person who is under the individual's care," as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.