It was the fall of 2003 when Southern Illinois University student Sarah Delashmit told her suitemates that she had cancer. All of them were devastated and even shaved their heads in solidarity. The next year, Sarah told her roommate she had gotten into a horrific car accident, was in a wheelchair and would never walk again. By the time Sarah moved out of the dorm, the roommate and she were not on speaking terms, and the roommate saw Sarah in the cafeteria walking just fine.
Sarah Delashmit suffered from Factitious Disorder, a rare psychological condition in which a patient intentionally falsifies medical or psychiatric symptoms in order to gain attention. But her lies did not stop with the wheelchair. Over the next decade, Sarah would claim to have Ebola, countless miscarriages, breast cancer, a deadly stalker and another rare disorder called Spinal Muscular Atrophy. She would attend camps for the disabled as a counselor and as a camper and her lies, scams and nefarious fraudulent actions would take her all over the country, on the Dr. Phil show, and, finally, to prison.

Show Notes:

https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-sympathy-pains-95154480/