Oklahoma mom Jamie Parker was flooded with sympathy two years ago when she told others that her 7-year-old daughter was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
The mother shaved her daughter’s head and took her to a cancer center, KFOR reported.
But it turns out, the child wasn’t sick at all. Parker came up with the diagnosis herself.
It started when her daughter came down with stomach pains. The mom went online to search for possible illnesses and concluded that the girl had lymphoma.
She then started posting about her daughter’s alleged illness on social media platforms like Facebook, The Express-Star reported.
Over two years, the mom collected at least $3,500 in online and cash donations intended for her daughter’s treatment.
Recently, her husband became suspicious and took his daughter to a doctor to be tested for cancer. And sure enough, the tests came back negative.
Sheriff Jim Weir told KFOR:
“He took the daughter into a doctor; they did some checks and saidno, your daughter doesn’t have cancer.’”
The doctor then contacted the Department of Human Services, who reached out to local police. The mom revealed the truth when authorities interviewed her, Weir said:
“When she was interviewed, the mother basically confessed said she just made herself believe in her mind her daughter had this.”
Weir said the mom allegedly lied about her daughter’s health in part to get sympathy. After being charged for embezzling money from a local wrestling team in 2016, the mom was disliked by community members:
“She said didn’t do this so much for the money, but she said when she was convicted of the embezzlement for the sports team, that everybody turned their back on her and hated her and when they found out her daughter had cancer they started befriending her again.”
Local resident Mandy Hess said she was surprised to hear the mother feigned her daughter’s illness. She told KFOR:
“I don’t understand someone using that or their child to get money.”
Parker is now facing child abuse and other charges in Grady County.