News

Mom Lies About Having Cancer To Keep Her Husband From Leaving Her

NewsPublished Apr 17, 2019
By Genny Glassman
divorce@gigibunny via Twenty20

A mom of three from Randolph County, North Carolina, has been arrested after she was caught lying about her heath to keep her husband from leaving her. Amy Ellissa Hammer told her husband that she had cancer and then accepted monetary donations from her community to help her get treatment. But after her scheme was revealed by local police, the mom was put behind bars and is speaking out about why she deceived so many people who only wanted to help.

The mom explained that she created her lie after her husband said he was leaving and she panicked to keep her family intact.

As reported by Fox 8, Hammer told reporters that she had never set out to obtain money or gain attention from her fake disease, but rather she lied about having chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) in an effort to convince her husband to stay in their marriage.

"When he said he was going to leave me, it was an impulsive thing," Hammer said. "We've been together so long, I was scared, terrified. That's my three kids, my husband that I've known for so long. So it was an impulsive thing and it snowballed."

But her lie quickly grew into a scheme that would illicit sympathy from her husband and draw in money from her community too.

The mom even created her own Facebook page, Amy's Promise, where she accepted money from community members with the promise to use the funds for her treatment, the Randolph County Sheriff's Office wrote in a statement.

She had also began to sell T-shirts for her phony cause and Trinity Wesleyan Church of Seagrove had been planning a fundraiser for the mom that was scheduled for March 23. The fundraiser was meant to be a way for the mom and her family to raise money to help pay her medical bills.

Hammer's story quickly started to fall apart after police received a report the mom had been obtaining property under false pretenses on March 8.

The report launched an investigation into Hammer's "illness" and it was quickly discovered her story was fake. The fundraiser at Trinity Wesleyan was canceled after the shocking news and on April 11, Hammer was arrested on one count of felony attempting to obtain property by false pretense and three counts of felony obtaining property by false pretense.

"We’re just surprised by it, shocked by it. It’s bad for this community that someone would do that. You can’t trust people, and it makes us not want to donate because of people like that," said Caroline Staley, an employee of the Transitions Salon and Spa. Her store had been one of several local business planning to donate services to be raffled off at the church fundraiser.  

"I have to deal with what I've done and that I hate myself," Hammer said in a phone call. "But I am sorry, I have to live with this. What I have done has hurt a lot of people, a lot."

She added that she would like to return money to the members of her community who donated and that by speaking out she hoped to clarify some of the rumors surrounding her case. 

"Assumptions are like rumors. They just keep spreading and spreading, and I have three kids. What I've done to my children is awful, and I have to live with that. I am trying to shelter my kids right now," she explained

For now the Randolph County Sheriff's Office is still investigating the case and is attempting to recover any donations still unaccounted for and return the money to people who were victims of Hammer's crime. 

The mom is being held on a $2,000 secured bond and will have to appear in Randolph County Superior Court on April 22.

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