Jessica Lynn Good, a 32-year-old mother from Enid, Oklahoma, began to fabricate the story when her 4-year-old daughter was just a few months old: Her daughter had lymphoma and cerebral palsy.
She fed this lie to family members – including her extended family, her husband, and their children, including her “sick” daughter – and members of the community. Good even began GoFundMe campaigns to raise money for her daughter’s mounting medical costs, and touched the hearts of other community members who also ran fundraisers to support the family.
Over the past three years, Good raised $20,000 for her daughter and earned the love and support of everyone around her.
After some time though, community members began to get suspicious.
Good always insisted she never needed help looking after her other children when she took her daughter to the doctor, and her daughter looked incredibly healthy for someone who was, according to Good, on her last legs.
It wasn’t until Good made a fresh request for financial support in sending her daughter to a new doctor in Chicago that the community took action.
The local church in Enid, Oakwood Church, reported their concern to the police. It didn’t take long to uncover the truth.
Good’s daughter’s medical record showed no sign of her having lymphoma, cerebral palsy, or any other serious condition. "Nothing indicated that the child was being treated for cancer or had cancer," Captain Jack Morris said.
Soon after the police turned out these records, Good turned herself in, confessing that she had lied about her daughter’s medical condition to get the money. One of her four children confirmed, “"People say all the time [our sister] doesn't have cancer but she does, mom said.”
Good faces three felony counts – one of which is child abuse. A doctor at the University of Oklahoma suspects that Good’s four-year-old daughter has suffered child abuse, both physical and psychological, by being forced to believe that she was terminally ill for the entirety of her life.
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