Unfortunately, the young girl reportedly faced years of medical issues requiring her to have countless tests, take strong drugs and even have life-changing operations. Her mother, who is now in prison, posted pictures of the child on social media. The photos often showed the little girl in a hospital bed. Per reports, the girl spent most of her childhood in hospital.
According to the Mirror, the 7-year-old girl, Olivia Gant, reportedly faced years of medical issues requiring her to have countless tests, take strong drugs and even have life-changing operations. Back in 2012, her mother, Kelly, took her daughter to a hospital where they lived in Colorado. She had recently moved from Texas with Olivia and her two sisters, but their dad had stayed there for work. The little girl was suffering from severe constipation, so the doctors treated her by removing the hardened stool from her colon and she was sent home. Shortly after, the mother told doctors that her young daughter was not eating and struggled to digest her food properly. Her observation triggered a course of medical care that would change the little girl’s life.
During the next few years, the little girl reportedly made more than 1,000 hospital visits and had several surgical procedures. Her small intestine was reportedly rerouted through her large intestine, which took in food from a bag on her stomach, the Mirror reports. Olivia’s mom told the doctors that her daughter was having seizures. Despite no doctor witnessing it, the liitle girl was put on strong medication that put a strain on her little body. When her feeding tubes stopped working, Olivia was given an intravenous tube that fed nutrients directly into her veins. This left the child so weak ,she was often bedridden and had to be pushed around in a wheelchair. Olivia’s mother shared about her daughter’s “condition” on social media and through a blog. She even created a GoFundMe page and raised more than $22,000.
Olivia’s mom also said that the little girl was also dealing with conditions such as autism, developmental delays and fluid on the brain. In 2017, the mother told her supporters that there was no cure for Olivia’s health problems and she was now terminally ill. The mother even told the medical personnel that keeping her daughter alive was unfair because she had no quality of life. The mother even requested that her feeding tubes be removed, the Mirror reports. Unfortunately, the little girl passed away on August 20, 2017, and her cause of death was recorded as intestinal failure as a complication of her multiple medical conditions.
In 2018, Olivia’s mother reportedly told doctors that another of her daughters was suffering bone pain. She reportedly said that her daughter had previously had cancer and she feared it had returned. But, the health officials could find no records of a cancer diagnosis. Luckily, doctors concluded there was nothing wrong with the girl. This made them start to question Olivia’s health problems. Then, Olivia’s body was exhumed and an autopsy revealed there was no intestinal failure and she didn’t have any of the other illnesses that her mother had claimed. Her cause of death was undetermined.
During an interview with investigators, the mother reportedly mentioned Munchausen’s syndrome by proxy, which is a psychological disorder in which someone pretends their loved one, often a child, is ill so they can be the centre of attention. According to the police officials, the mother reportedly convinced doctors her daughter needed treatment and basked in the attention. She also wanted to profit from people’s generosity, officials said. According to the DA’s office, the mother made up fake illnesses and subjected her daughter to unnecessary hospital visits and surgical procedures to treat illnesses she’d never actually had. She also defrauded the Medicaid system of more than $538,000. In 2019, the mother was charged with murder, child abuse, theft and fraud. Back then, she pleaded not guilty. In 2022, weeks before her trial, she made a plea deal. She was sentenced to 16 years in prison. Olivia’s family also placed blame on the CHC, where Olivia was treated for five years, and it settled a private lawsuit for an undisclosed amount.
