Cops: Monster Munchausen mom fakes young son’s illnesses!

A Texas woman is behind bars after police accused her faking her son’s illness and sending him to numerous unnecessary doctor visits and surgeries.

The Star Telegram reports that 34-year-old Kaylene Bowen-Wright is accused of starting the cycle of claiming her 8-year-old son was sick when he was 11 days old. Court records indicate between 2009 and 2016 in both Dallas and Houston, Bowen-Wright took her son to the hospital 323 times. While pregnant with her son, the suspect allegedly called the boy’s father, Ryan Crawford, numerous times in the middle of the night, claiming she she’d been admitted into the hospital for various made-up reasons.

According to Crawford, he dated the suspect only briefly when she became pregnant. He said he began to wonder if her illnesses were valid or if she was just wanted attention, but nothing could have prepared for her behavior once the baby was born.

Christopher [Photo: YouCaring]
In April 2009, Bowen-Wright gave birth to Christopher at 33 weeks gestation. Less than two weeks after his birth, calls and visits to doctors began, although it was later determined nothing was medically wrong with the baby. Over the course of the next eight years, Christopher underwent invasive surgeries, wore an unneeded oxygen mask, and visited doctors too many times for family to keep up with. At one point, he had a feeding tube inserted into his small intestine, which led to numerous blood infections.

“She was always saying Christopher was sick. Every single week. Every single month,” Crawford said. “She would always say, ‘Something’s wrong. He has this. He has that.’ 

According to NBC 11Alive, Crawford tried to get Dallas County family court judges to intervene. He told them numerous times that his son was not sick, but Crawford claims no one would listen to him. He said that a judge, at one point, blocked him from seeing his son in 2012.

Bowen-Wright apparently wasn’t deterred at what Crawford claimed. She eventually tried to get her son on a lung transplant list and claimed he was dying, first from a genetic disorder, and later from cancer.

Authorities finally took notice after Dallas hospital staff alerted Texas Child Protective Service workers (CPS) last month, after medical staff determined that the boy didn’t have cancer, nor did he need a lung transplant. Court records indicate that hospital staff also alerted CPS in 2015 but nothing was done.

Bowen-Wright was arrested and remains behind bars at the Dallas County jail, on a $150,000 bond. Meanwhile, Crawford said he’s grateful that his son won’t have to go through unneeded medical procedures anymore, but he feels the system is broken and needs to be exposed before more children go through the same thing.

“It’s horrible for my son, or any kid because obviously my son is not the only one that has had to go through this type of torture. The system has to be exposed — all the weaknesses that are in the system — because the kids don’t deserve that.”

[Feature Photo: Kaylene Bowen-Wright and Christopher/ YouCaring/Police Handout]