By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-03-27 19:34:03 | Updated at 2025-04-04 00:15:28
1 week ago
A self-proclaimed 'cancer faking expert' has declared that there is one place that health scammers love to visit.
Bill Petrich has spent 15 years tracking the baffling cases of people who have faked cancer.
Petrich, who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma at the age of 21, now documents his findings on TikTok.
One of his recent revelations is that many people who fake cancer often have a penchant for Disney - and will spend the money raised to go to one of the famous theme parks.
'Cancer fakers love Disney World,' Petrich declared in a TikTok.
'You just told your friends and family that you're dying and now they're giving you money - what are you going to do next - I'm going to Disney World,' he quipped.
The cancer-hunting sleuth - who works a day job in biotech - said he has been 'so many' cases where someone fakes cancer and fundraises a lot of money before taking a 'dream vacation to a Disney park', which is often billed as their last vacation or dying wish.
Saying he can think of more than 'than 25 cases,' he knows of some people that have faked cervical cancer in Cinderella's castle or Hodgkin's lymphoma in the Haunted Mansion.
'I'm talking about multiple myeloma on the many adventures of Winnie the Pooh,' he quipped, before listing a few well-known cases.
Bill Petrich, who dubbed himself the ' cancer faking expert', has spent 15 years tracking the baffling cases of people who have faked cancer
'Emma Lagarde was a prominent case out of the United Kingdom in 2005 to 2008, she basically faked her son's cancer so she could skip the line at Disney World,' he explained.
'She shaved her son's head and sent him to school in a wheelchair, even though when he came home he would jump on the trampoline in their yard, so the kid eventually knew he didn't have cancer,' he shared.
But the mom kept this up for years and raised thousands of dollars before taking a dream vacation to Disney World in Florida with her son - making him sit in the wheelchair so they could skip the line at all the rides.
As per old reports published in 2012, his mother used her Facebook page to announce he had cancer and kept up the elaborate farce for four years.
'She was ultimately sentenced to three years in prison when she was caught,' Petrich added.
He then shared another story, involving a 38-year-old woman from Maryland named Dina Leone who started reaching out to her old high school friends on Facebook, telling them she had stage four cancer and she was dying and asked them for money.
'[She] got people to start fundraising for her and doing stuff for her, and she took that money and went to Disney World for a dream final vacation, her dying wish,' Petrich explained.
Reports from 2010 show that several friends sent money to pay for chemotherapy while others organized charity events to raise funds.
One of Petrich's revelations is that many people who fake cancer often have a penchant for Disney - and will spend the money raised to go to Disney theme parks
However, some helping became suspicious after Leone suddenly appeared bald after chemo rather than losing her hair over a period of time.
According to report published in 2019 by the Baltimore Sun, Leone was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
'You're on Space Mountain, you're supposed to be having the time of your life, but like in the back of your head you know that this huge scandal is looming over you, that you've made an incredibly stupid self-destructive choice, there's really no exit strategy from faking terminal cancer and going off to Disney World - how can you even enjoy the rides at that point?' he asked.
'I could rattle off so many more cases,' Petrich concluded the video. 'But you get the idea: cancer fakers cannot resist a trip to Disney Land or Disney World.'
Faking cancer has been thrust into the limelight after the Netflix series Apple Cider Vinegar, which focused on self-proclaimed health guru Belle Gibson who rose to prominence in 2012 with her tale of how she ‘cured’ her own brain cancer through healthy eating, clean living and ‘positive thinking’, she inspired hundreds of thousands of followers around the world.
In an interview on the Speaking of Psychology podcast earlier in the year, Dr Marc Feldman, a psychologist who is an international expert in factitious disorders, defines malingering as when people lie about serious illness for external gain.
He said people who malinger are 'going after things that are tangible', for example, obtaining opioid medication or, if they are facing a criminal conviction, the ability to plead not guilty by reason of insanity.
This differs from Munchausen syndrome (also known as a factitious disorder) which causes people to fake illness in themselves, or others, to gain attention.
