UPDATE:
The teacher cancer faker Elisa Bianco manipulated and destroyed wasn’t the only victim of her lies.
Her half-sister, 28-year-old Katie, said she brought the HobNob biscuits her sibling craved after giving up her make-believe cancer treatment to what was purportedly her “farewell” birthday party.
Believing it was to be the 22-year-old’s final birthday, guests cried openly in front of Elisa as she ate her biscuits.
Katie said Elisa targeted her teacher, Sally Retallack, and her family “because they were such lovely people”.
“It was like living in a dream — it almost didn’t feel real. I wish I’d gone with my gut now,” she said, according to News Limited.
“That evening she told everyone she felt tired, so we went up and gave her presents.
“I mean, what do you get someone who’s dying?
“I ended up getting her HobNobs that she said she had been craving after the chemotherapy. It was just horrible. Me and Sally would just turn to each other and burst into tears.”
Katie said she was devastated when her half-sister disclosed her terminal diagnosis, a secret she asked her to keep from their father, which led to the breakdown of the relationship between Katie and her dad.
“She said she didn’t want him at the funeral. I didn’t question why. It was her dying wish. But not telling him has ruined my relationship with him, and we’ve cut ties because of her,” Katie said.
Just days after her fake farewell party, Elisa was apparently inspired to fight her fatal illness.
“She told me about a drug she’d found and it was going to cure her. But soon after, we found out it was all fake,” Katie said.
Mamamia previously reported:
Everyday Elisa Bianco’s friend and carer, Sally Retallack, would help Elisa get ready for her cancer treatment.
She would help Elisa dress, try to feed her something to sustain her then drive her to the local hospital. There Sally would wish Elisa well with her treatment for a growing tumor on her kidney and Elisa made her way into the hospital farewelling the woman who she had begun to call “Mum”.
Sally would feel despair watching Elisa suffer under the weight of her “terminal cancer diagnosis”.
Each day it was the same — Elisa, dressed in her pajamas, would make her way into the hospital, but she wouldn’t go to the renal ward for treatment.
Instead she would sit in a café in her pyjamas and dress herself in fake bandages while writing forged letters from her “doctors”.
Elisa Bianco didn’t actually have terminal cancer you see.
Elisa Bianco didn’t have any illness whatsoever.
What Elisa had done was forge a web of deceit and lies in which she had trapped Sally Retallack forcing Retallack to lose her marriage, home and her job.
Top Comments
Wow, the punishment doesn't really fit the crime does it? I mean, she ruined another persons life and only gets 2 years jail (read inconvenience) as punishment. Hopefully jail will be suitably uncomfortable that she might consider NOT doing something like this. Poor woman though - I really feel for her!
2 years' jail seems inadequate.
I'm also intrigued by how Belle Gibson seems to have escaped formal consequences for similar deception.
I was just thinking about Belle Gibson too.