The Lost Childhood Summary

Sickened: The True Story of the Lost Childhood written by Julie Gregory. Published by Bantam Books in 2003. Julie Gregory was a victim of child abuse. She was about three years old when it all began. Her mother, Sandy Gregory was convinced that something was wrong with her daughter. So she began to take her to specialized doctors so they can find out what’s wrong with her. The doctors never found anything wrong with little Julie. The doctors never realized that the mother was trying to cause an illness for her daughter. Sure enough it was discovered that Sandy suffered from Munchausen by Proxy disease when Julie was older and listened to a lecture describing exactly what was happening in her life as a child. Munchausen by proxy disease(MPB) is a form of child abuse where the caretakers make up an illness for their child to relieve their own abuse or gain attention or acceptance from peers. Julie thought her feelings of exhaustion was caused by her “illness” rather than her own mother’s abusive rituals. …show more content…
It is highly overlooked due to the children not speaking up because of how scared they are of their parents. Doctors and children should be aware of this so children or the elderly will not be taken advantage of by abusive caretakers. She wrote this book to show awareness of this disease because it is so highly hidden amongst society. Also to inform people that this is a real disease and she was affected by it. She wants to help children so they don’t go through what she had to endure. The effects of Munchausen by Proxy can be life threatening. Most children under the age of 6 years old die because of the overly abusive parents. Julie first discovered her mother was affected by Munchausen by Proxy when she sat in lecture while attending college. In which led her to write her life story of the various visits to the hospital and searching for all her medical