**By Jacqui Lang
Nearly all of us know someone who has had cancer, and are aware of its effect on families. So why would someone pretend they were suffering from such a cruel disease?**
South Australian mum Angie Walsh wept as she told a radio audience how cancer was killing her. Her cancer was inoperable, but if only she could afford a new cancer drug treatment, she sobbed, it could make all the difference. If not, she would be dead in six months…
“I know there are people out there who are so much worse off than me, but at the moment we have no family or support, it’s overwhelming,” Angie told listeners in Victor Harbor, SA.
Angie’s tearful tale and a feature in the local newspaper soon had caring souls reaching for their wallets, wanting to assist the 31-year-old who claimed she was suffering terminal thyroid cancer and leukaemia. After all, who wouldn’t want to help a mum, whose cancer had spread to her brain and kidneys, to have more time with her family?
In all, kindly folk donated $9000 to help the married mother of one. The only problem was that Angie Walsh never had cancer. Charged with 24 counts of deception and identify fraud, Angie is currently on bail and awaiting her trial.
Her lawyer, Sarah Grimwade, claimed Walsh has bipolar and multiple personality disorders, and attended a Perth psychiatric clinic in 2002. Her mental state will be considered when she finally faces court next month.
The lengths Angie allegedly went to in order to look like a cancer patient are disturbing. Riverside Serviced Apartments manager, Emma Reid, told the Herald Sun newspaper that Walsh had worn a scarf and shaved her eyebrows when she stayed at the Melbourne hotel in August 2006, to look like she was undergoing chemotherapy.
For the full story, see this week’s Woman’s Day (on sale January 5).
