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Friday, December 9, 2011

Mother Allegedly Fakes Cancer For Money

Posted by on Fri, Dec 9, 2011 at 10:03 AM

Wow:

Martha Nicholas is charged with obtaining money by false pretenses. Hanover authorities say she lied about having cancer and took money from sympathetic donors, who gave — believing their donations would pay her medical expenses, and hardships related to her illness.

...Nicholas was very public with her personal testimonies and told inspiring made up stories, of surviving four bouts with cancer. Here, she's behind a banner celebrating life wearing a T-shirt that reads, 'Cancer Sucks'. Hanover investigators say they found no evidence of any cancer treatment anywhere.

Even Nicholas's two children were reportedly told that she had terminal cancer. If the allegations prove true, can you imagine what a mindfuck it'll be for these poor kids? It's a Christmas miracle—mommy doesn't have cancer any more! Mommy only lied about having cancer for the free vacations!

 

Comments (10) RSS

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Phoebe in Wallingford 1
That woman has Munchausen Sydrome. Her kids better get out of there before she starts Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy!
Posted by Phoebe in Wallingford on December 9, 2011 at 10:18 AM
Vince 2
I know what she did was wrong. But I also understand desperation and what it can make people do. The irony is she'll probably wish she had cancer.
Posted by Vince on December 9, 2011 at 10:34 AM
3
A friend's mother did this. She told her kids and her fourth husband that she had breast cancer and needed cash. The husband (a wonderful and caring truck driver) worked overtime for months to give her money. She spent it on clothes, etc. When they found out, the fourth husband left and my friend essentially "divorced" his mother and changed his last name. I remember when my friend and I were in middle school his mother went to jail for extorting money from her work. She worked in ad sales for a suburban newspaper. She must have some sort of mental illness!
Posted by reallymissseattle on December 9, 2011 at 11:11 AM
4
Does everything have to be criminalized in this country?

My grandmother faked a number of health crises in order to get attention and control other family members. It was a shitty thing to do and a sign of her mental illness.

Criminal charges would have helped nobody.

BTW doesn't "obtaining money by false pretences" describe much of the activity of Wall Street?
Posted by codswallower on December 9, 2011 at 1:41 PM
Dougsf 5
Is this an older story, or does this happen way more often than I think?
Posted by Dougsf on December 9, 2011 at 1:47 PM
6
@4,

Soliciting donations under false pretenses is called fraud. If this woman had merely used her fake illness to manipulate people or get non-monetary items (like relatives cleaning her house or cooking dinner), the authorities would not be involved. But the bitch got greedy, so she's heading to prison.
Posted by keshmeshi on December 9, 2011 at 2:12 PM
Shini 7
@4:

People who fake illnesses cause a 'boy cry wolf' effect, where people who really do need help won't get it because once fooled, people are very reluctant to trust again.

And taking money from organizations set out to HELP those who actually have cancer meant that someone who had the condition would not get that - her faking illness could have cost people their lives.
Posted by Shini on December 9, 2011 at 2:15 PM
8
I guess you would have to be one of her victims to fully understand the magnitude of what she did to people. As one of her victims, what she did was nothing short of emotional RAPE! She found was to gain sympathy by using your own personal experiences to coonect with you and also using your personal relationship with religion to pray upon you.

The money people donated is nothing compared to the emotional torture she inflicted upon her so-called friends and family. She didn't con strangers, she conned her childhood friends and former classmates!
People she had been friends with for some 25+ years!

Sadly, even if she does do jail time, I doubt she will get much of it, certainly not what she deserves! The worst thing is that she is pleading insanity for her actions claiming no recollection of her actions. Which just angers people more as she perpetrated this 'scam' and faked 4 different cancers over a 20 year period as local police were unable to locate even ONE hospital or Oncologist that treated her for Cancer! I think people would be more sympathetic if she took responsibility for her actions and admitted it and showed some remorse. Sadly, she's choosing to continue to manipulate!
Posted by OneOfTheConned on December 10, 2011 at 4:31 AM
9
I guess you would have to be one of her victims to fully understand the magnitude of what she did to people. As one of her victims, what she did was nothing short of emotional RAPE! She found was to gain sympathy by using your own personal experiences to coonect with you and also using your personal relationship with religion to pray upon you.

The money people donated is nothing compared to the emotional torture she inflicted upon her so-called friends and family. She didn't con strangers, she conned her childhood friends and former classmates!
People she had been friends with for some 25+ years!

Sadly, even if she does do jail time, I doubt she will get much of it, certainly not what she deserves! The worst thing is that she is pleading insanity for her actions claiming no recollection of her actions. Which just angers people more as she perpetrated this 'scam' and faked 4 different cancers over a 20 year period as local police were unable to locate even ONE hospital or Oncologist that treated her for Cancer! I think people would be more sympathetic if she took responsibility for her actions and admitted it and showed some remorse. Sadly, she's choosing to continue to manipulate!
Posted by OneOfTheConned on December 10, 2011 at 4:37 AM
10
Wow emotional rape fully describes how I feel!! I want to print tshirts that say Martha$uck$ !! I doubt she will pull time but I hope the authorities are looking into the mental abuse her kids suffered, like her daughter crying while public speaking at her prayer vigil, granted it bumped up sales of her cancer sucks tshirts but totally at her kids emotional expense!! I just want to know how the person that turned her n knew cuz that smug witch wad good !
Posted by Martha$uck$ on December 10, 2011 at 4:39 PM

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