A woman who rose to fame for her cancer survival, advocacy, and fundraising is under fire for allegedly lying about her breast cancer diagnoses.
Tracy Dart from Seattle, who has raised over $400,000 over the last decade for the Susan G. Komen Foundation, claimed to be a three-time breast cancer survivor and has obtained local celebrity status, with many entities gathering funds on her behalf.
Now she allegedly admitted she was never diagnosed with the disease.
Matthew Welch, owner of Auburn Volkswagen and among entities that raised thousands of dollars for Dart, said in a revealing interview that he met with a Team Tracy member to hear the news.
"The first words were 'she doesn't have cancer.’ 'She never had cancer' were the second words, and it just blew my mind,” Welch recalled.
A separate report from a local paper, which profiled her in 2010, said that the lie surfaced when Dart went to the doctor for liver treatment and no record of her cancer can be found. The news agency reached out to the West Seattle fundraiser’s friends but has not received any comment yet.
Team Tracy has now been dissolved, with the Team Tracy and We Heart Tracy Dart Facebook pages now taken down. Dart’s Twitter page remains online but has not been updated since July last year.
Welch is hoping for a good development for the Komen Foundation and Team Tracy. "I wouldn't say we're angry. I would say she needs help, and I hope she gets it,” he said, referring to Dart, who still cannot be reached for a response.
The local police is uncertain whether an investigation is already underway or if there is a pending criminal charge against Dart. Acting under false pretenses for the purpose of fundraising, however, qualifies as the crime of fraud.
Similar news came out days ago when a woman from Georgia was accused of felony forgery as well as a misdemeanor charge for theft after she allegedly lied about a cancer diagnosis. According to police, the woman’s goal was to obtain money and gifts from sympathizers in the local community.
Photo: Bryan Ledgard | Flickr
