Kaylene Bowen, 34, took her son Christopher on more than 300 hospital visits and also publicly announced he had cancer on Facebook.
The Dallas mother has now been arrested for a felony injury to a child, reported Daily Mail.com.
Bowen is said to have told medics her son would throw up every time he had milk because of an allergy.
NBC Dallas Fort Worth reported doctors became suspicious and contacted Child Protective Services who both confirmed he was not actually sick two years ago.
It is now alleged that Bowen may suffer from a mental health condition called Munchhausen by Proxy, or MSBP, in which a “caregiver makes up or causes an illness or injury in a person under his or her care”.
His father Ryan Crawford, who has now separated from Bowen, said her extreme behaviour started after his boy was born.
He told NBC: “The issues escalated to eventually she claimed that my son was dying.
“I was horrified because from what I knew, my son was fine.
“He just needed — not even extra care — he was fine.”
Breaking down in tears he said he felt responsible for not stopping the surgeries, as it emerged Bowen wanted her son to have a lung transplant.
“Just so many surgeries that are just unbelievable,” Crawford told NBC 5.
“He could have died, only God saved him.”
Christopher visited the hospital 323 times and had 13 major ops for reported ailments at the Children’s Medical Centre in Texas.
One Facebook picture showed Christopher in a wheelchair and included a slogan from the US St Jude’s Children’s Hospital: “Let’s end childhood cancer together.”
Munchausen’s syndrome by proxy (MSBP)
According to the NHS, the condition which is also known as Fabricated or Induced Illness (FII) is a rare form of child abuse.
The parent or carer, normally the child’s mum, will exaggerate or deliberately cause symptoms of illness in the child.
The signs of the condition can include persuading healthcare professionals that their child is ill when they’re perfectly healthy or lying about their child’s health problems and manipulating tests results to prove the presence of an illness.
This could include, for example, putting glucose in urine samples to suggest a child has diabetes.
A study in 2000 estimated there were 89 cases of MSBP in a population of 100,000 over a two-year period.
It is reported in more than 90 per cent of reported cases, the child’s mother is responsible for the abuse.
The NHS said it could be that the carer enjoys the attention of playing the role of a “caring mother”.
Many diagnosed cases have been linked to emotional instability, and unresolved psychological and behavioural problems such as a history of self-harm, or drug or alcohol abuse.
Some carers have experienced the death of a child.
His mum had launched crowdfunding pages to pay for the treatments, including one on YouCaring which raised more than £6,000.
It claimed: “Christopher is battling a severe case of Arteriovenous Malformation (AVM) in his lungs, kidneys, liver, heart and brain.
“Diagnosed at the age of two, the congenital condition is slowly taking the wind out of the sails of this bright and active boy.”
His mum said on the page: “No question, seeing Christopher suffer is a sad and painful experience for our family.”
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