AwayIThrowThis: I faked having a chronic pain condition for 5.5 years in order to not have to attend middle school and high school (I was placed on a homebound program — NOT homeschooling — and allowed to study at my own pace from home).
I was able to fool a team of medical professionals, my family, my teachers, and my friends into believing that my symptoms were real.
Also, I racked up over $100,000 in medical bills for my family (that’s just what the insurance didn’t cover) during those 5.5 years (I did not realize the extent of the medical bills until late into my lie, and it was one of the main reasons I decided enough was enough).
Upon graduating from high school and getting accepted into a good university, I decided it was time for my “pain” to disappear. No one has questioned the fact that my symptoms vanished overnight. My medical team attributed it to the fact that I was nearing the end of puberty.
What I did was a douchebag thing, and my family is continuing to drown in debt from medical bills (I plan to pay them back someday). I simply started the hoax because I was a 12-year-old who absolutely loathed middle school.
I attempted to end the lie at the beginning of every school year but eventually fell back into saying my “pain” prevented me from attending school.
Today, I feel horrible about what I did, and I desperately want to tell everyone that it was a lie, but I know that I cannot because I will never gain credibility back again.