PHILLY BURBS: Her friends and family knew something was amiss when Lori E. Stilley canceled her hospice care for bladder cancer, citing a “miracle” recovery, authorities said. Nearly a year later, she is facing criminal charges for allegedly faking her illness and soliciting thousands of dollars in donations for her care. Stilley, 40, of Delran, surrendered to authorities Wednesday morning to face charges of third-degree theft by deception and was released after posting $25,000 bail. Her attorney says that she maintains her innocence, and that the claims she faked the cancer are “slanderous.” The ordeal began in February 2011, when Stilley told those close to her she had been diagnosed with stage 3 bladder cancer and would have to undergo radiation treatment and chemotherapy, according to the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office. She also posted the information on her Facebook page, and told friends she didn’t have any health insurance to cover her care, authorities said. From there, it seemed an entire community mobilized to support her, organizing fundraisers, sales, raffles and banquets, all to raise money for her medical expenses. Throughout 2011, the fundraising activities brought in more than $11,000, and Stilley wrote and sold an e-book online that generated more than $3,000 in proceeds, according to authorities. MORE
INQUIRER: Friends held a banquet in July 2011 that raised more than $8,400 and organized the T-shirt sale. Another event brought in $1,000. On Stilley’s website, a friend posted a calendar where people could sign up to deliver her home-cooked meals, authorities said. When Stilley indicated that she wanted to marry her boyfriend, William, before she died, friends and family planned the wedding in nine days at the Moorestown Community House. The venue lowered its price to $500, and her supporters picked up the tab. Stilley chronicled her struggle in what became a 306-page e-book, I’Mpossible – How a Facebook Group Loved Me Through Cancer, that she sold for $14.99 on her website, authorities said. It grossed more than $3,000. “I pray I will be around to look at this book 20 years from now with my children,” she wrote. “If not, I have a sense of peace knowing they have their Mommy’s story to keep for the rest of their lives. I’m still waiting on that miracle.” MORE
RELATED: The 23-year-old woman who faked having cancer, ran a bogus charity and scammed hundreds of people of at least $13,000, says she did it to get back at her parents for a miserable childhood. Ashley Anne Kirilow said she is sorry for what she has done. Currently unemployed, she said she has spent the money but when she gets a job she will save enough to cover what she stole. Kirilow cried throughout Friday’s wide-ranging interview. Her hands — tattooed with the words “WONT QUIT” and “LOVE LIFE” across her knuckles — shook as she smoked cigarettes and recounted how everything began when she told a few friends that a benign lump in her breast was actually cancer. Her lies escalated to the point where she shaved her head, plucked her eyebrows and starved herself to appear at benefit events as a chemotherapy patient. In October she started Change for a Cure, a supposed charity that consisted of little more than a Facebook group. MORE
RELATED: An unemployed Detroit-area mother accused of lying that her 12-year-old son had cancer in order to steal charitable contributions made to him was arraigned Friday on charges of fraud and child abuse. Authorities say Carol Lynn Schnuphase, 47, even drugged her son and shaved his head so he appeared to have cancer, then accepted thousands of dollars in donations for his treatment. A Roseville district court judge ordered Schnuphase held on $100,000 bond. “A mother, no less, goes so far as to shave the head every other week, shave the eyebrows, and maybe the worst thing of all, to crushing up drugs to put in his applesauce to make him appear lethargic,” said Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith. A hospital has tested the boy and declared him cancer-free, although he was going thorough opiate withdrawal, Smith said. MORE