A young man recently took to Reddit to ask for opinions about whether or not he should pay for his estranged mother’s cancer treatments. This is his full story.
He Moved Out On His Own When He Was Young
The Original Poster (OP) is a 24-year-old man who has lived independently since he was 18. That’s not so unusual, but how he got to that point was anything but typical.
OP’s parents got divorced when he was just a kid, and his mother got custody of him. She was very cheap when it came to him all through his childhood.
She skimped on the things he needed in order to save a buck or two, even going so far as to make him wear outdated school uniforms that he had outgrown. His father thought everything was fine until the school called him and his mother in.
She Skimped On Everything For Him
The administrators wanted to discuss whether they could afford to send their son to that school. Dad was mortified.
Even though OP lived with his mother, his father was still very involved in his life. Dad paid child support and frequently bought the boy gifts and items that he needed for school.
But it never took long before the gifts just disappeared from the house. When OP would ask his mother where the goodies from his dad were, she told him that someone must have stolen them.
Eventually, OP realized that his mother was probably selling the gifts that his father had given him.
His Mother Sold His Things
It all took a heavy emotional toll on OP, and his relationship with his mother had pretty much disintegrated by the time he turned 18. Even so, she depended on him being there to help her out and didn’t want him to leave.
But OP couldn’t take it anymore, and he moved out of the house one night while she was asleep. He moved in with a friend, and his father helped him with bills until he could get on his feet.
With the child support payments gone and her son out of the house, OP’s mother abandoned the house and just disappeared.
His Mother Disappeared
In the years that followed, OP got a job with a small company and worked his way up to a better position. He was able to get a place of his own and a car, and he was starting to feel optimistic about the future.
He even spent a lot of time in therapy, which helped him understand just how bad his mother had been to him. And how to move on and not let the past cripple him.
Then, recently, his mother contacted him out of the blue. She has cancer and wants him to pay for her treatments.
She Reappeared, Wanting Money
OP was blindsided by her request and could hardly believe that she would ask so much from him after screwing him over his whole life. But when he thought about it more, he realized it fit her MO perfectly.
He wasn’t even sure he believed she had cancer, but then the hospital called him to discuss payment for her treatments.
Now, even with all the hard feelings between them and all the pain she’s caused him, OP is considering paying for her cancer treatments.
He’s Thinking of Paying for Her Cancer Treatment
Reddit commenters overwhelmingly tell OP that he has no obligation to pay for his mother’s treatments. Most of them are pretty strong in their advice to NOT pay a dime.
They say she has done nothing but make his life harder than it should have been.
Some say they understand the sentiment for wanting to help his mother even though she’s been terrible to him, but they point out he’s still not in a good financial position to do so.
What do you think of this story? Should OP pay for his mother’s cancer treatments? Or should he tell her to go jump in a lake, like she probably would do to him?
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The post He Refused to Pay For His Mother’s Cancer Treatment, She’s Been Using Him for Money His Whole Life first appeared on Wealthy Living
Featured Image Credit: Shutterstock / F8 studio. The people shown in the images are for illustrative purposes only, not the actual people featured in the story.
Source: Reddit