A Queensland mother desperate for attention poisoned her healthy daughter with cancer drugs and also faked symptoms to have her own appendix removed, a court has been told.
The mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is being sentenced in Brisbane's District Court for causing grievous bodily harm to her then healthy four-year-old.
The 23-year-old bought chemotherapy drugs over the internet and fed them to her daughter over a period of nine months.
She also wrote about her child's "fight for life" on a Facebook page, which garnered widespread support and even attracted a small amount of donations for medical treatment.
The drugs caused life-threatening illness to the girl, who suffered bone marrow failure last year.
Prosecutor Glen Cash said the mother fed the drugs to her daughter to attract attention to herself.
Mr Cash said the drugs put the child at an "unquantifiable" risk of infertility and increased her risk of developing certain cancers by 1-2 per cent.
"Otherwise her outlook is good," he told the court.
Barrister Catherine Morgan, for the mother, said the girl was now being cared for by her maternal grandmother.
"She confirms (the girl) is indeed a healthy, happy little girl who started prep, who misses her mother," she said.
Ms Morgan said her client had been suffering from an extremely rare mental disorder known as factitious disorder by proxy, where a person deliberately produces, feigns, or exaggerates symptoms in someone in their care.
She also faked symptoms to have her own healthy appendix removed, the court was told.
The mother has already spent 426 days in custody.
She's expected to be sentenced on Wednesday afternoon.
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