One of the more shocking news stories to come to the public's attention in recent years was the huge lie told by a young bride. When she and her boyfriend, Michael, broke up after the birth of their first child, she decided that the only way to get her child's father to marry her was by convincing him that she had cancer. Their story was mentioned in newspapers nationwide, and eventually was featured on a segment of ABC's 20/20 called "Secrets and Lies."
The young bride, Jessica, made the decision to tell her former boyfriend that she had leukemia and that she only had months to live. As a result of her lie, Michael immediately reacted by telling her to move in with him. Once Jessica had convinced her fiance that she had cancer, they began to tell other people. Gradually, the lie was told to about 100 people they knew personally.
Jessica knew that she was in an awful situation, but she was afraid to tell Michael the truth. She cut off her hair and wore a wig at their wedding. She even pretended to go to cancer treatments. People began to donate things to them for their wedding, so Michael called the newspaper to get a feature story about their wedding and Jessica's heartbreaking story. As a result of the article, even more people began donating money and gifts to help with the wedding. For example, the wedding dress shop would not let her pay for her gown. A local hotel gave them a special suite for their wedding night. A jeweler gave them the wedding rings. The young couple received a donated trip to Aruba for their honeymoon, after their wedding in May of 2010.
Jessica began to actually wish she would die, because she did not know how to get out of her lie. Her husband became suspicious, and eventually called the doctor. When he discovered that Jessica had been lying to him, Mike temporarily left her. When the police were informed of her scam, she was indicted and spent 50 days in jail.
Currently, Jessica is in the process of making amends for her actions. She has paid back over $13,000 to make financial restitution. She will be on probation for the next five years, in addition to the 50 days she spent in jail. Although Mike has forgiven her and taken her back, most of their friends have not forgiven her.
Shockingly, this is just one of many phony stories by people who have pretended to have cancer in order to receive cash and other donations. The unfortunate result of these deceptions is that many people are more reluctant to make donations to real patients who actually do have cancer.
Photo of a bride courtesy of http://www.morguefile.com/
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