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An Australia influencer and mummy blogger who is under police investigation for allegedly drugging her daughter to win followers and donations had previously claimed her own life-threatening kidney disease was “healed by God”.
The mum-of-four built an online following of more than one million by sharing details of what she said was her child’s life-threatening brain tumour.
Australian media reported that hospital staff raised the alarm after noticing the mother was giving information to her followers that did not match the treatment her child was receiving.
Health authorities raised concerns of a possible Munchausen syndrome by proxy case.
Munchausen syndrome by proxy is a psychological disorder in which a caregiver deliberately harms a child to make them - or present them - as being unwell.
Now, The Australian has reported that five years ago the same woman was filmed telling a church congregation in Queensland that her stage 5 chronic kidney disease had been cured “through the healing power of God”.
According to The Australian, the woman claimed she had to have dialysis three times a week and would require a kidney transplant.
“Something amazing happened. (The pastor) was asked to pray for someone … with kidney pains … and specifically someone on dialysis and in need of a kidney transplant,” she said on a now-deleted video shared on the church’s social media.
According to The Australian, the woman went on to tell the congregation that when the pastor prayed, she could “feel the presence of God working inside me”.
She claimed the day after the pastor prayed for her, she visited a doctor for tests and her “kidney function had raised from 7 per cent to 33 per cent”.
The woman then said through the healing power of God she strongly believes she won’t need a transplant.
The Australian approached the church for comment, which claimed the woman had “not been connected to our church for many years” and did not want to comment.
Since the investigation began, the woman has been blocked from accessing more than $66,000 of donations.
The influencer mum, who cannot be named to protect her toddler’s identity, is being investigated for ‘child harm’ by police in Queensland.
The influencer mum is being investigated for ‘child harm’ by police. Photo / 123RF
The influencer had previously pointed the finger at medical authorities for what she claimed was a slow response to her child’s symptoms.
“I have been advocating for [my child] for about five, six months, prior to her diagnosis, saying I thought that there was something wrong with my child and I was just palmed off,” she told followers.
“We could have found out about this a lot earlier and started treatment,” she claimed, saying dealing with the issue had been ”traumatic”.
“Honestly, I am still healing, I am struggling every day,” she said.
The child is now understood to be recovering after being taken into foster care.
“Police are aware of reports of child harm against a one-year-old girl,” police said in a statement.
“The Queensland Police Service has taken action to protect the child and commenced an investigation.
“As this is an active investigation it would be inappropriate to provide further comment.”
‘You’re an absolute monster’
The child’s father had played an active role in the mother’s social media activity and has now come forward to claim he had no idea what she was doing, labelling her a “monster”.
“For what it’s worth, I had no idea about what [the mother] was doing to [the child],” he wrote in a social media post.
“I pushed for those surgeries because in my heart I felt it would help.
‘I didn’t realise [the child] was [allegedly] being drugged the entire time causing her symptoms to be what they were.
“I do my best to love and protect my children. I should’ve done better for them.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t protect [the child] the way I should have,” he said, telling followers all his children were now in protective care over police fears he too was involved.
“You’re an absolute monster. You win,” he said to his children’s mother.
“To all four of my beautiful children, I love you so dearly. I’m so sorry.”
