An Indiana mother faces felony fraud and neglect charges after allegedly lying about her daughter's medical condition.
Katherine Jackson, 41, allegedly misstated her daughter's condition, saying she was terminal - and likely to die - when the condition was actually chronic. She also, according to WANE-15, failed to refill prescription medication meant to help treat her daughter's chronic condition.
In August 2022, WANE-15 did a story on Jackson. In the story, Jackson says, "Ultimately, she has months left with us. That's what doctors say. However, she writes her own story," Jackson said. "You can give me as many months or weeks as you think, but you're not God. You're not her. She's sassy, and she's got a lot of fight."
A GoFundMe page set up in 2021, stated, "The doctors have given [the child] 6 months to a year to live. [The child's] wish is to go to Walt Disney and meet Princess Elsa with her mother Katie, and little sister Everly, who is her best friend." The page raised $1,620.
The 2022 WANE-15 states that in 2019, Make-A-Wish approved the child to go to Disney World. COVID-19 prevented the visit.
A few weeks after the WANE-15 story ran in 2022, Jackson took the child to the hospital, and staff suspected child medical abuse, the station reported. The medical staff learned that Jackson had not been refilling the child's medication.
Police confirmed with medical professionals that the child suffered from Pilarowski-Bjornsson Syndrome (PBS), a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by delayed development and impaired intellectual development, according to the National Institute of Health.
WANE-15 reported that a specialist told police the illness was chronic, not a terminal illness, as Jackson had repeatedly told people. In August of 2022, the children were placed with a foster parent.
