Fayetteville mother says young daughter being used in cancer scam
FAYETTEVILLE (WTVD) -- The mother of a girl fighting cancer says someone is using her daughter's image to scam donations.
"I had no idea," said Lashawnda Williams. "I was furious. How could someone do something like that without telling me? I am her mother."
Mariah Andrews, 12, has been fighting cancer for three years. Mariah said it's been a tough fight.
"It's been hard, but you have to keep your faith," said Mariah.
Williams said her daughter was diagnosed with Stage 4 Rhabdomyosarcoma.
"It hit her in four different places: her spine, her chest, ribcage, and her leg," said Williams. "She wasn't able to walk after surgery. So she taught herself to walk".
Williams said while her daughter fights the cancer, she is trying to get a fundraiser to stop using her daughter's picture and information to collect donations.
"They are using my child's face and story to raise money for who," asked Williams. "Not us, because we have not seen anything."
In April, Williams became suspicious after seeing her daughter's picture on a GoFundMe page which was set up, Williams said, without her permission by a woman Williams said she met on Facebook. The fundraiser offered to help her raise funds for expenses. Williams said the woman's fundraiser supposedly raised several hundred dollars by selling items with her daughter's pictures.
In back and forth text messages and phone calls, Williams said the fundraiser would not tell her how much money had been collected, and she refused to give Williams her charity ID number. Williams said that's when she felt she and her daughter had been used.
"It's never OK for someone to take advantage of our situation," Williams said.
She told the fundraiser to stop using her daughter's pictures, but she doesn't believe they have.
"She is still scamming us with all the pictures and items that has my daughter's information," said Williams. "People see a child, they want to give, but they have not been giving to us. They are not helping our situation."
It is a heart breaking situation, but, through it all, Mariah has one wish -- to live to help others.
"When I grow up, I want to be a scientist -- a cancer scientist to help other people," she said.
Williams said she is talking with Fayetteville police about her complaint. Meantime, the fundraiser's Facebook account is now private.
