A mother from Ohio lost custody of her 11-year-old girl after she raised money and secured freebies by claiming that her daughter was terminally ill.
34-year-old Lindsey Abbuhl told an Ohio community that her daughter Rylee had a life-threatening condition caused by a failure of her central nervous system.
She started fundraising for medical expenses and made her daughter believe that she was dying.
Rylee even started asking her friends to be pall bearers at her funeral as she believed her mother’s words.
The two secured free tickets to Sea World and charity events were held in the young girl’s honor.
They were also made guests of honor at an A&HM softball game in Texas, and a fundraising page set up by a friend received more than $4,500.
But a court recently reported that they had not found evidence of any terminal illness.
Children Services alleges Abbuhl “has been using Rylee’s ‘medical condition’ to obtain funding for trips, housing and other expenses for the last several years.”
In a document obtained by The Canton Repository, medical professionals who reviewed Rylee’s condition concluded: “There is no evidence to support mother’s claim that Rylee is terminally ill.”
The report also said that the young girl has talked to a counselor for the past three years to learn how to “process her own death.”
The complaint filed by Children Services in Family Court reads: “(Lindsey) also told the counselor, who is going on maternity leave, that Rylee may not be alive when the counselor returns.”
The fake story started when Lindsey began telling neighbors and friends that her home-schooled daughter was sick.
Lindsey claimed that a medical team had performed tests on her daughter but could not determine the root of her illness.
She said that Rylee regularly suffered nightmares, was always exhausted, could barely eat, and was on pain medications.
She would then share their hospital visits on social media. In one post, she wrote: “This little lady is my best friend! Continue to say prayers for her as we navigate through her medical concerns.
“We don’t know what her future holds, and we don’t know if tomorrow will come for her each time we go to bed but the prayers and faith of all those we love helps keep us going!”
However, Rylee’s shocked father said his daughter suffered from constipation and slow digestion.
“If she needed my heart, I’d give it to her today,” he expressed. “As far as her going to die: no.”
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