You're going to die

My name is Nina Blom.
When I was fourteen, I almost died.

For years I was systematically made sick by my mother. She made up illnesses for me or aggravated them, and was very angry with me when I didn't tell the doctor I was in pain, even though this wasn't the case. From the age of nine she kept me at home, I couldn't go to school, friends weren't allowed to visit me, all I could do was lay in bed. Eventually, this caused my situation to become indeed critical.

It felt as if I was put in a rollercoaster I couldn't get out of.

'It's important that doctors and other medical caretakers know that this form of child abuse exists, because "you can't see something you don't know".'

• A.N. Bosschaart, pediatrician and forensic physician