Woman Helps Her Sister Walk And Move As She Experiences Body Pain, But Their Parents Think The Girl Is Just Faking It
by Heide Lazaro

Freepik/Reddit
Struggling family members need support and understanding.
This young woman helps her younger sister walk as she experiences unexplained body pain.
The girl was brought to a doctor, but medical tests showed nothing serious.
Thus, their dad thinks the young girl is only exaggerating and even criticizes her for encouraging her sibling.
Now, she’s torn between helping her sister and dealing with her parents’ dismissive behavior.
Read the full story below and share your thoughts.
AITA for helping my sister walk when everyone thinks she is exaggerating?
I am 18F and my sister 12F has been complaining of body aches for a week now.
She says all of her legs hurt in different places at different times.
Her back hurts, her head hurts, her ears get blocked, and her hands hurt, as well.
It really seems like her whole body is nothing but a ball of pain.
This young woman helps her sister walk when she’s in terrible pain.
How I help her walk is that I let her put her arm around my shoulders.
While her available arm grips onto my arm.
It also seems it genuinely hurts her to stand.
She starts flopping even while trying to stand straight without support.
When they brought her in for a check-up, the doctor found nothing wrong with her.
The issue seems to be that, sometimes, she says it hurts to simply lift her leg on the bed.
Other times she does that without issue, and she also twists in her sleep.
My father saw this through the camera. She was moving around throughout her sleep.
We went to the doctor finally today, and he also seemed to agree that there was nothing too wrong.
There was no arthritis in the blood report. Nothing was obviously wrong.
He is my father’s friend, I think.
Their father was very certain that her little sister is just faking it.
All this, and her general upbeat nature when she is sitting and playing with our cousin, has solidified our family’s belief in the fact that she is faking.
They think that the idea that she will get hurt and fall down is making her not put effort into trying to walk.
They also think me being beside her, ready to help, is not helping.
My father in particular has said all sorts of hurtful things, such as how she is faking to get attention from me.
He says it is 2001% my fault.
He also mocks and laughs at her.
He also did this very frustrating thing where he mocked the way that my sister screams when she tries to walk.
She scrunches up her face and screams “ahhh” or “ooh” when it hurts.
Sometimes, my father just laughs.
Once he held a cane and imitated the noises, saying “OMG, I am hurting so bad” while laughing.
She left her little sister once, and it broke her heart to sis her crying.
I really don’t want to leave her alone in the room with my parents only.
I think they have been very frustrating in this situation, as described above.
But not leaving when they tell me to seems to just get added to my laundry list of flaws in this situation.
I did leave once, when she first complained, and I returned to her crying and asking me why I abandoned her.
It breaks my heart to see her like this.
She doesn’t want to abandon her sister even if everyone says that she’s just faking it.
She cries very often due to how much it hurts and due to not feeling stable.
Especially when I try to make her hold me in a way my parents and relatives think is better.
It seems like if I follow their instructions, I am betraying my sister.
But I don’t want to stunt her or hurt her, especially when the doctor also said for her to just put in more effort to walk.
Am I the jerk?
Let’s find out what others have to say about this.
This person shares a valid point.

You’re a good sister, says this one.

People are commending her for being a supportive sibling.

Here’s another honest opinion.

Not every struggle is meant to be visible.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a daughter who invited herself to her parents’ 40th anniversary vacation for all the wrong reasons.
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