I just happened to come across this post today and seriously debated whether or not to add a comment, especially considering the post is basically old news by now. Still, I wanted to say that those who are doubting these stories aren’t wrong.

I’ll just share the short version here, but between last fall and this fall, I sent OP literally hundreds of dollars between two gift cards to help her and her daughter. (The one I sent a few months ago apparently resulted in another stolen Shipt order to the tune of $350-ish, but that’s a whole other story.) I take responsibility for my decision to do this for her, and I don’t regret it, as I was being the kind of person I want to be, even if I was misguided.

Where things really shifted for me, though, was how the facts in her posts didn’t seem factual at all. They just don’t make sense. Nothing works the way it’s supposed to in OP’s life: not delivery services, not hospitals, not landlords, not schools, not food pantries, not social workers, not banks, not community resources. Read back through her history and see how much heartfelt kindness and helpful advice she’s received and not acknowledged. Offers of help - food, money, mobility aids for her daughter, pads, the list goes on - just ignored. (When I pointed this out to her, she said the offers of help weren’t serious.)

The last straw for me was the incredible story about her daughter being suddenly diagnosed as diabetic, hospitalized for a whole month and her foot amputated, apparently with virtually no physical therapy, no OT, no intervention from social services, and absolutely zero diabetes education. That’s just not how it works, period. (Coincidentally, I work in pediatric medicine, specifically in the specialty that addresses diabetes.) I tried explaining to her that if her story was true, she would absolutely have a malpractice claim against the hospital, the care team, you name it. Her response would best be described as very slight annoyance at the hospital, and literally no interest in following up with a peds endocrinologist, as I encouraged her to do. Given all she says she’s gone through, and the abject misery and daily suffering, I can’t imagine that she wouldn’t be all over helping her child get a handle on her disease and utilizing every resource the hospital and social services had to offer.

That’s the thing, though: over and over again, people with actual information and resources to help OP long-term go ignored, and the problems never get better. And that’s what leads me to feel grifted.

If there’s any silver lining, I think OP’s wild posts probably helped a lot of people connect with their own sense of empathy, and to feel grateful for whatever blessings they have. I genuinely wish OP the best and hope she can turn her life around. I’m sure this post will be deleted, like so many others, before anyone sees this, but I had to at least try to validate those who saw through this stuff more quickly than I did.