In 2002, a seven year old girl named Hannah Milburn was at the doctors with her mum, Theresa. Since Hannah had been feeling just a bit under the weather lately, her mum had wanted to have her checked out to make sure that everything was normal. But although Hannah and her dad figured that everything would be completely fine since she only had a minor fever and a cough a few days later, when her scan results came back, her mom sat them both down and informed them that Hannah had terminal cancer.

She continued, describing the tumor that had been found at the base of her spine and how she might not have too long left to live. Although Hannah was still too young to fully grasp what all this meant, seeing her dad break down into tears completely terrified her because she was so young, though she didn't notice that for some reason her mum wasn't crying.

But regardless, in that moment, Hannah knew that her life was about to change forever. Her life would indeed change, just not in any way that she or anyone else could have ever imagined. Welcome back, guys. My name is Andy Jang, and this is Hidden Stories. Following Hannah's leukemia diagnosis, her life and daily routines drastically changed practically overnight since her mum, Theresa, warned her that her immune system was now in an extremely vulnerable state and that even catching something as small as a common cold could be highly fatal to her.

She was no longer allowed to go outside and play with friends anymore or have them over at their house. Whenever Hannah left home, her mum made her wear a surgical mask, telling her that it would stop other people's germs from making her sicker. And since doctors had told her mum that the tumor on the back of her brainstem was in an inoperable location, Hannah had to start going in for chemotherapy treatment multiple times a week as well.

Being seven, Hannah couldn't fully comprehend all of these new changes that now had to be made in her life why she suddenly couldn't see any of her friends anymore, and why she had to behave so differently from her peers. She couldn't even really understand the concept of death, but her mum kept warning her would happen if she didn't do exactly as she was told.

However, since Hannah's biggest fear at the time was being separated from her mum and dad and from what she had been told, that's what death was. The idea of dying absolutely terrified her, so she religiously followed her mum's instructions and accepted them fully. But despite her reluctant acceptance of these new changes in her life, that didn't stop her from becoming completely miserable because of them.

Although Hannah had been a very cheerful, happy little girl before her diagnosis, she now hated her life. She absolutely hated how people would immediately treat her differently when they found out about her cancer. With such pity and sadness in their eyes. She hated the attention that everyone else gave her, which was made even worse by the fact that her mum and dad were spreading the news of her cancer as forward.

And that's why it is they could so that they could receive donations towards her expensive chemotherapy treatment. Before long, it began to feel like everywhere Hannah went, people knew exactly who she was. The poor little girl who had gotten cancer. But despite just how horrible all this attention made her feel. Her mum, Theresa, absolutely loved it. She no longer ever left the house without at least wearing some sort of fashionable clothes.

She began to go out fairly often to have her nails manicured and her hairstyle, and she never turned down a chance to go out and look for more donations from their friends, local businesses and their community in general. This got to such a point that Hannah even felt that her mum was just starting to never be a robot and was becoming more distant from her at the very moment when she needed her the most.

She would beg and beg to be able to sleep in her parents room at night, since she was scared of being alone in the dark. But her mum, for some reason would always say no. Although this really confused and hurt Hannah and also further heightened her fear of being separated from her family. Her dad, Bob, was always there for her when her mum wasn't.

Despite the fact that her dad was never able to attend her chemotherapy appointments at the hospital with her and her mum since he had to leave the house at 4:30 a.m. every day for work whenever he was around, he always made sure to shower Hannah with the affection that she needed and that she was so lacking from her mum.

Although Hannah and her dad both weren't happy about the fact that her mum was now always just out and about. It also made sense though. Since Hannah's chemotherapy cost $5  every single week, there was no way that their family could afford the treatment without donations. And her mum, Theresa, was doing an incredible job at bringing those donations in.

She would often go into great detail about Hannah's condition to others, specifically describing her three tumors where they were located and how ineffective chemo had been at shrinking them so far. When Theresa informed the small truth that their family attended in Urbana, Ohio, about her seven year old daughter's condition, the tiny community was so compassionate and so generous that they were able to raise an astonishing $7, 0 for her.

Most of these folks weren't rich at all and were giving away hard earned money that they very much needed for themselves as well. But nonetheless, they just wanted to pitch in and help out. Similarly, when firefighters at a local fire station were told about Hannah, they contributed $5  out of pocket as well, and also donated a puppy and an all expenses paid trip to a water park to Hannah.

Two things that she had long been pleading with her parents for. And when an extremely ill girl equipped, it confined to a wheelchair for most of her life. Heard about what Hannah was going through. She decided to donate all of the pumpkin tabs that she'd spent the past nine years meticulously and tirelessly collecting to pay for her own care to help Hannah pay for hers instead.

The entire Urbana community greatly felt for Hannah and what she was going through, and they rallied together to support her, whatever the cost. When Hannah's hair began to fall out in patches due to her chemotherapy and her mom had her head shaved completely bald, this became even more so the case, since Hannah had always loved her long, blond hair.

She had begged her mom not to cut it off when her mom still did, though, saying that they had to. Hannah sobbed uncontrollably, insisting that she looked like a boy to that. Her mum simply responded, But you look like a pretty boy and told her that she could wear hats into her hair grew back as a result to make Hannah feel better about having to wear a hat to school every day.

The staff there soon organized a hats for HANNITY, where every kid in the school were hats as well, and donated $5 towards her treatment. As pictures of Hannah with her bald head begin to spread across the town and also made its way into the local newspaper. More and more donations began to come in from various locals and local businesses.

In October of 2 2, however, Hannah was suddenly told by her mum that she had just a few months left to live. Obviously, Hannah was devastated. All of a sudden, she was getting sent to the counselor's office every day at school to help her come to terms with her upcoming death. She'd be told to sit and talk about her fears and then us to draw pictures of heaven.

And all of her friends were suddenly treating her differently, as well as if Hannah's life hadn't already fallen apart enough, it would just completely fallen apart even more. A few weeks before Christmas that you're Hannah begged Santa for her life to be spared. That was her only request. As it turns out, her wish would actually be granted, but not in any way that she was expecting it to be.

In late November of 2 0, two teachers at Hannah's school began to become highly suspicious about her hair. Although real chemotherapy patients generally have extremely patchy, hair says the treatment causes it to fall out and grow back in chunks. Hannah's hair had always seemed perfectly, even as if it had been frequently cut to maintain its short length. As a result, head teachers soon decided to contact the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services to investigate everything.

And when someone was sent over to the school, there was shocked to find that the chemotherapy poor bandages that were covering Hannah's back had nothing underneath them. When local police were notified about this, they quickly made their way to Hannah's home to speak with her mum, Teresa. Within the night, she had confessed, admitting that Hannah's cancer wasn't actually real and that she had faked everything over the past six months.

Hannah, her dad, and their entire community of Urbana, Ohio, had been completely convinced that she was dying. But now it was suddenly revealed that she had been completely healthy all along, and it shocked everyone. As it turns out, that very first day that Hannah and her mum, Teresa, had gone to the doctor for her minor fever and had gotten all of those scans done.

They had all come back completely normal. However, out of a desire for her own financial gain and also out of a fear that Hannah's dad, Bob, would leave her soon, Teresa decided to lie and claim that a tumor had been found. Over time, she continued to expand upon this lie. Although to outsiders, including Hannah's dad, it seemed like Teresa was taking Hannah to chemotherapy at the hospital three times a week.

The truth was, she had been secretly drugging Hannah with adult sleeping pills during every car ride. This made it so that when Hannah woke up each time, Theresa could tell her that they had already been to the doctors and had the chemotherapy done already. And Hannah, being so young, would never know otherwise. And the few times were Hannah's that Bob had tried to schedule days off of work so that he could come to the hospital with them.

Theresa had pretended that the appointments had gotten rescheduled at the very last minute to avoid him finding out about her lot. Similarly, Theresa had lied about everything else related to Hannah's cancer and her cancer treatments as well. Since Hannah wasn't actually undergoing any chemotherapy, Theresa had been secretly cutting head, his hair sort again every time it grew back in.

Just like her teachers had suspect. And she had also taped large medical bandages on Hannah's back over nothing and claimed that it was there to cover the chemotherapy points that had been implanted onto her skin. Before long, Hannah's mom, dad and grandmother had all been arrested and serious self was placed into protective custody. When their house was searched.

The police found the sleeping pills that have been used on Hannah, as well as some of the cash that had been donated to them. However, the most disturbing thing that they found were all of the pumpkin tabs that have been so generously donated to them by that extremely sick girl just left untouched in their garage. Theresa hadn't even bothered to cash them in, and it apparently just decided to make money the easy way by asking people.

Although all these pumpkin types were luckily able to be returned back to that girl and her family. Out of the $30, 0 in other donations that Hannah's mum had managed to raise, only $5  of it were ever recovered. In the end, both Hannah's mum, Theresa and her dad Bob were charged with theft, child endangerment and felonious assault. Despite Theresa attempting to plead not guilty by reason of insanity, she was later sentenced to six and a half years in prison.

As for Hannah's dad, although he desperately insisted that he had never known that Hannah's cancer was fake, he was later found guilty as well and spent five years in prison. Although Hannah has always maintained that her dad was completely innocent and knew nothing about what was going on, there was simply too much evidence to suggest that he and Theresa were working together.

It was simply hard for any judge or jury to believe that over the course of six months of living with Hannah and Theresa every day, Hannah's dad had never noticed a single suspicious thing, such as the lack of any hospital bills or the fact that Theresa never actually took Hannah to the hospital. Also, since Hannah's dad still continues to support and live with Theresa, even after he had found out which he had done, even many of their neighbors back in Urbana began to suspect that he'd been in on the fake cancer plot all along.

However, to this day, both Hannah and her dad maintained his innocence, and they also say that he'd only been supportive of his wife because they had been together for eight years without any issues before the cancer scandal. After spending a year in protective custody, Hannah was allowed to live with her aunt Sue, who later gained custody of her.

Over the next few months and years, Hannah struggled greatly with the press and considered on multiple occasions as taking her own life. She was completely haunted by what her mom had done to her. Looking back, there were so many small things that seemed really weird at the time, but now it'sit's such as her mum not crying when telling her about her cancer diagnosis, her calling Hannah her Million Dollar Baby one time after chemo and her going out and getting her nails done while her daughter was supposedly suffering from cancer.

But although Hannah doesn't know if I'll ever truly get over her traumatizing experience, she's managed to find a love for life. She began seeing a therapist reunited with her dad and moved in with him after he was released from prison and cut her mum out of her life for good. As of 2017, Hannah was in university studying to be a social worker so that she could one day help kids in foster care.

In her own words, I feel like there are people out there who are struggling and have been abused in some way. It might not be the same as mine, but everybody has a story. One thing I want people to know is that even in the hardest points in life, there is light at the end of the tunnel. This life is worth something.

Please take care, guys, and I'll see you all next week.