List of cancer victim hoaxes

There is a long tradition of hoaxsters transmitting untrue stories about the suffering of victims of cancer, either to raise money, to harvest valid email addresses, or to cause trouble.

List of alleged cancer victims

alleged victim	1st year active	notes
Jessica Vega	2010	According to her ex-husband Vega claimed to have leukemia in order to trick others to finance a lavish wedding and honeymoon.
Ashley Kirilow	2009	23-year-old Burlington, Ontario Ashley Kirilow used the internet, particularly Facebook, for fundraising. According to the Toronto Sun psychotherapist Marc Feldman, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Alabama, asserted the kind of lies Kirilow told were often a sign an individual was manifesting Münchausen Syndrome by internet. Ashley Kirilow was sent to Disneyworld for her dying wish. Kirilow has been the subject of death threats following her exposure as a hoaxster.
Martha Nicholas	1999	Forty-two year-old mother of two, who claimed she had ovarian cancer, since she "was in her twenties". Was a beneficiary of the Relay for life charity.
Jessica Ann Leeder	2010	Like Kirilow, 21-year-old Huntsville, Ontario Leeder used Facebook to solicit funds to support her fight against a non-existent cancer.
Keele Maynor	2003	From 2003 through 2008 Chattanooga, Tennessee resident Maynor hoaxed co-workers of funds and sick days through claims she had breast cancer.
"Jessica Mydek"	1997	The letter from "Jessica Mydek" represented itself as a letter from a 7-year-old girl with terminal brain cancer, but the American Cancer Society determined there was no such child. The Jessica Mydek letter requested recipients to forward the letter as widely as possible among their friends and acquaintances, and include a bogus email address on the carbon copy list, that they claimed was that of the American Cancer Society. The email addresses on the carbon copy list were subsequently sold to other online fraudsters.
Tamara Martin		The Tamara Martin chain letter tells recipients that Dave Matthews, of the Dave Matthews Band, will send his American Online screen name to them to reward them for forwarding Tamara's story to their friends. The letter reports that Tamara has six months to live.
Amy Bruce	1997	The Amy Bruce chain letter claimed little Amy was "suffering from lung cancer due to second hand smoke and a large brain tumor due to repeated beatings." Versions of the Amy Bruce chain letter have been circulating from as early as 1997.
Brigid A. Corcoran	2010	Corcoran raised thousands of dollars at fund raising event, on the untrue claim she had non-Hodgkins lymphoma.
Shona Holmes	2005	Holmes appeared on television ads on American TV during America's debate over reforming its health care system. Holmes warned American viewers against following Canada's single payer system, claiming she had a life-threatening brain tumor, and claiming that she would have died due to inherent delays in the Canadian medical system. It turned out that she never had a brain tumor, that she had a common congenital condition called a Rathke's cleft cyst. Holmes claims she has received death threats.
Jonathan Jay White	2009	Melissa Ann Rice, 24, claimed to be a 15-year-old cancer victim. The Jonathan Jay White hoax targeted celebrities, including Lance Armstrong, Tony Hawk and Kenny Chesney. The body of Rice, the hoaxster, was found in her car, a week after charges were laid.
Craig Shergold	1980s	In the 1980s a boy named Craig Shergold really was suffering from cancer, and he really did request the public help him get listed in the Guinness Book of World Records. He was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records. He didn't die. But his story captured the public's imagination, and variations of his story continued to circle the Globe, as chain letters, for decades.