By SHAUNA ANDERSON
They thought they were helping a young mother of six who was dying from terminal ovarian cancer.
Little did they know it was a scam. A vile heartless pack of lies designed to simply steal money.
The mother of six never had cancer.
Her detailed Facebook page documenting her battle and the GoFundMe Fundraiser nothing more than fraud.
The Facebook and Fundraiser pages were set up in September calling for help for a woman named “Elle”
On September 12 John-Elle Heagney, who claimed he was Elle’s fiancé, wrote of the heartbreaking news that the mother of his six children ‘Elle’ was dying of cancer.
He claimed that she had been diagnosed in April and after six months of chemo she was told that the cancer had spread into her lungs.
The Facebook page said that Elle had been “classed as stage 4 or terminal cancer and that there is no cure, with the time frame of 3 years to live.”
The man said that he had been forced to give up his job to become Elle’s full-time carer and he was desperate to help her cover the $1600 medical costs a month.
On “Help for Elle” a post read.
“Elle’s medical treatments start at $1600 each months and can increase depending on the amount of chemo therapy Elle needs and the different types of medication If you would like to make a donation weather it is big or small all the donations help.”
PM: Israel Launches Missiles At Iran, Male Violence A Priority Says Attorney-General
The Quicky
Taylor Swift & The Birthday Card Relationship Test
Mamamia Out Loud17-Year-Old Fletcher Crowley Became Paraplegic Six Months Ago
No Filter
Top Comments
Perhaps she has mental issues, but personally I think people who do things like commit rape have mental health issues, it doesn't make it excusable. In any case no one is going to admit to the world that they just did it because they are a bad person!
I think people who commit scams like this are as bad as rapists and murderers, because that money could have gone towards helping people who are actually dying.
If people are stupid enough to donate to a cause via an unverified Facebook page then they're fools. Donate to registered charities which gives receipts and you won't feel so hard done or risk a loser like this person steals your money. And it is stealing.
I'm sad to read this although I understand the sentiment.
On my young son's oncology ward I have seen many families held together by the generosity of their local communities. Many families who do not have the resources or skills to set up a registered charity in their name.
I think the aussie spirit of mateship and lending a hand certainly saved my family.
Perhaps it is a good idea to donate to people who you know of or have mutual friends or who through Drs letters etc verify their position. Donations like this can have such a real and significant impact on changing a child's experience or a family's experience of the end of their child's life. I don't think the people who reach out are fools. I think they are pretty awesome.
I was at a social event recently and a woman there ended up getting quite upset and had a little cry, turns out she has an extremely rare disease (not cancer) and that she was really struggling dealing with it. She wasn't asking for money, in fact she said that fortunately she had insurance to help her, but the point is I wanted to do something for her, as I was so moved by her story. I truly believe she was genuine, but unless I saw a doctor's certificate how would I know? Sometimes in life you take things on face value, I agree that over the internet is more dicey, but still you can be defrauded in person too, but that's the price we pay sometimes for being compassionate. The only other alternative is to mistrust everyone or demand to see evidence, but who wants to subject a sick person to that? In any case documentation can be faked.
I do see your point that donating based on a Facebook page is not a good idea, but it's hard sometimes to figure out whether to believe and help or not.