great book, scary prospect

So I started a new book last night. I"m already 250 pages in. (As most of you know, I read a minimum of 1 book a week... often 2 or sometimes 3 in a week...every once in a while a book will take more than a week if it's particularly long, but not often) The book is called The Life You Longed For by Maribeth Fischer.

It is about a mother named Grace whose son Jack has mitochondrial disease and is dying. But someone accuses her of having Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy. This is a disorder where mothers purposely make their children sick to get attention (think of the mom in Sixth Sense). They thrive on the attention given to them and their child by doctors. This mother is innocent, and it sounds like many who are accused are innocent. But sadly, of course, there are far too many children out there who are hurt by their parents. It's a really compelling and interesting story. I know, from my experience as a teacher as well as from reading I've done, that there are sick parents out there who intentionally hurt their children. But it's scary to contemplate this disorder because most of the things that characterize someone with this illness would be true of most educated, caring parents. Fascinating read. I can only imagine how awful it would be for your child to be terminally ill. But then to have the threat of that child being removed from you, that would be awful!