Attention all you future and current doctors, moms, dads, teachers, counselors, therapists, social workers and caring souls. YOU HAVE TO READ THIS BOOK AND INFORM YOURSELVES OF REALITY.
“He takes my head down, down, smash my skull goes into the piercing corner of the coffee table. Pain splinters my face… I cannot cry. I am going to die.” (156)
In this mesmerizing and horrific story about one of the most covert forms of child abuse, Julie Gregory retells her life story in Sickened. Her childhood was a plethora of doctor’s appointments, medical exams and test, pills, medicine, 
starvation, verbal and physical abuse, and pain. Julie was a sickly child, and her mother always thought something was wrong with her. She would take Julie to countless doctors across the state to unearth the mysterious disease. In actuality, Julie was just a normal little girl. This tells the story of a form of child abuse called Munchausen by proxy (MBP). MBP is when a caretaker of a child falsifies medical illness to gain attention and sympathy from others. Julie would have numerous, and often invasive, tests performed, but the results would always show up normal. The very people who were supposed to help and care for her were the exact people who broke down her soul. They didn’t have enough compassion or understanding to even hear her story. In a letter she received from her friends, it harshly portrays the view many had of her situation, “… made the whole thing up, trying to get us to feel sorry for you… Nobody’s mom does those things…You are scumbucket trash…” (131) Through all of the adversaries, Julie somehow managed to pry herself away from the abuse and start a new life. She got a job and went back to school. When she learned of what her mother did to her, that she was never actually sick, that she missed having a life because of her mother’s selfish ways, she grew angry and bitter. She learned how to heal her broken soul. This is her story, her recovery, her life. No one should ever have to go through a life of child abuse, but not only did Julie Gregory survive, but she found the courage to write and to inform others of this atrocious act.
So pick up this book and start learning!
book cover:http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/413SDZFCEAL._SX500_.jpg
