Munchausen's by Proxy

I woke up thinking about how I had three major unnecessary surgeries by the time I was six years old. Age 3 & 1/2, age 5 and age 6. Two surgeries were at Christmas and the last one was during summer vacation. At age 13, I didn't think I'd live to be 16. My self image was distorted by a sickly persona.  As it turned out this was completely false. I was the strongest one in the family. And I still am. My mother wanted me to be ill, and housebound to stay home and take care of her.

Munchausen syndrome by proxy is a mental illness and a form of child abuse. The caretaker of a child, most often a mother, either makes up fake symptoms or causes real symptoms to make it look like the child is sick.