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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 than 20 blood tests and 150 hours of inpatient EEG monitoring. He was also prescribed medication for seizures he didn’t have, which reportedly caused him to appear uncoordinated, lethargic and sick.
- Teresa Milbrandt shaved her 7-year-old daughter's head, gave her sleeping pills to make her appear drowsy, and, prior to her arrest, told her daughter that she was celebrating her "last Christmas."
- Juanita Garcia approached strangers for money to help her daughter, helped organize fundraisers, and had also told her 7-year-old daughter that she had just months to live.
What is Their Problem?
I haven't evaluated any of these women. And yet, I don't think any of us would argue that this behavior is "normal." It also isn't consistent with major mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder or schizophrenia.
Some people have speculated that these are cases of Munchausen by Proxy, a somewhat outdated term to describe a parent (usually a mom) who makes her daughter sick so that she can get attention. I don't think so. Juanita Garcia's sole motive appeared to be financial; she has readily admitted that she made up her cancer con to bilke people out of money.
Teresa Milbrandt publicly stated that she thought up the idea in a last-ditch attempt to keep her husband from leaving her. However, at the time she was arrested for cancer fraud, she already had convictions for stealing credit cards and writing bad checks. In addition, while her husband has always stated he believed his daughter was really sick, he also served nearly five years in prison for the same crime Teresa was convicted of—felony child-endangering. Even after serving six and a half years for the cancer fraud, her criminal career did not stop. In 2011, she headed back after pleading guilty to forging prescriptions in an attempt to get pain pills.
Emily Creno's father and defense attorney both allege that Emily Creno has had some mental problems, including three previous suicide attempts. Ms. Creno allegedly became depressed after separating from her husband (in fact, she also attributed her cancer scam to her attempt to win back her estranged husband); in one article, a judge also references alleged "anxiety attacks." Neither of these disorders is a justification (legal or psychological) for her actions; thousands of men and women experience similar symptoms every year without breaking laws or traumatizing their children.
Whatever the psychiatric diagnosis, it is clear is that none of these women exhibited the love, compassion, or empathy their child deserved. Perhaps only time will tell whether or not their emotional deficits were always present (an argument for a possible psychopathy diagnosis) or each had the capacity for empathy but, at some point, satisfying the needs of their child was overruled by their own needs.
The Bottom Line
Creno and Milbrandt each served prison time and lost custody of their children. Garcia is currently charged with felony child endangerment and may never see her daughter again. Some might argue that this does not begin to even the score in light of the psychological impact on each of the victims.
As a mother, the actions of these three parents fill me with disgust. As a psychologist, I believe it is important to try to understand the psyches of each of these women so that we can intervene before similar decisions are made and spot them sooner when they have. After all, each of these three women were once innocent children themselves.
