Oncology Nurse shares how Scamanda pulled it off — Poppie Lady (2024)

As an Oncology Certified Nurse of 10+ years, Iet’s debrief the SCAMANDA podcast! I am going to share my personal opinion of how I believe Amanda got away with faking Lymphoma for 8+ years. (Note- I had a personal connection to Scamanda as my mom and husband worked with her, but never met her).

If you have not yet listened to this incredible (#1!) podcast by Charlie Webster and Nancy Moscatiello with Lionsgate, you MUST!!!

-Traci

Traci Lyn Clark RN BSN OCN PHN (Registered Nurse, Oncology Certified Nurse, Public Health Nurse).

Photo “Magic”:

She would share emotional photos/blogs/social media detailing her cancer treatments. ALL of the photos of me in this post were taken within 24 hours during an outpatient procedure and at home. I used different gowns (can be found on eBay), hair extensions, and nail polish to change things around.

Amanda was basically a magician, but instead of using slight of hand, props and rehearsed stories to inspire wonder, she used them to deceive, manipulate and defraud.

Every item in this example “bag of supplies” is a disposable item that is used in the ER. Do you recall in the podcast when Penny shared that she ran into Amanda at the hospital and Amanda had a “bag of supplies” with her? She wouldn’t even need to steal them after any one of her ER visits.

Do you recall Jessa finding an old IV under her brother’s bed? Amanda basically had a library of photos and supplies and would use them however her lies required.

However, as Special Agent Arlette Lee shared after reviewing all of Amanda’s medical records, she ABSOLUTELY DID NOT HAVE CANCER, nor was she ever treated for cancer. So what was the infusion?

Option One: She was at an Oncology Infusion Center for a non-Oncology infusion. I have worked at four cancer centers and Oncology infusion departments give infusions to more than just cancer patients. They typically also provide infusions for Rheumatology/Allergy patients as well as Iron Infusions, blood transfusions and more.

Option Two: ANYONE can pay for an infusion via private infusion centers (aka “Wellness Centers”). These are infusions you pay out of pocket for, including ‘Hangover,’ ‘Glow,’ ‘Vivid,’ and more! They will even come to your home to infuse you for $225 (note: I find these types of offices very problematic, but that’s another post). She could have easily payed $225 for a “Hangover Glow” Infusion and FaceTimed Rebecca during her appointment. Nancy even mentioned this on the podcast that there was a local Infusion Center and someone named “Mandy” left a positive Yelp review about loving their doctor and the infusions there.

Let’s talk medications/chemo. I will definitely say that she had enough correct terms (keytruda, immunotherapy cycles, port, Reed-Sternberg cells) in her blog that I would guess she was copying someone else’s blog/timeline, but we also know from Nancy’s trial that Amanda went to cancer support groups and would hear other patients talking about their diagnosis and feelings. She would delete and restart her blog on different platforms, making it hard to chronologically compare all of her writings.

“The amount of effort she put into (her fraud) is still kind of stunning to me to this day… she could have been ANYTHING and INSTEAD she did this.”

-Penny Fraley, Scamanda podcast, episode 8.

1. She had a target audience:

   She preyed on well-meaning people who valued faith. She exploited their value of charity and being religiously motivated to help others. Notably while “in remission” she would infiltrate new groups such as Family Community Church, a large, affluent church, and private Christian schools Valley Christian and Pacific Point. After a few months of endearing herself to the community and giving gifts and hand-making crafts (teachers at Valley Christian describe a year she handmade Christmas trees for each teacher’s room, supposedly after being hospitalized), she would suddenly “relapse.” Remember in the podcast when Lisa Berry tells Amanda about the fundraiser for a beloved Los Gatos dad who had brain cancer and that $100k was raised for him? And then the next day Amanda tells Lisa that she also has cancer? That basically became Amanda’s pattern. Attempt to become a beloved member of the community and then “relapse.”

She zeroed in on the people of influence in each community. I wish I could write that she only exploited people who had the means to help, but as evidenced by her horrific act of taking (MORE THAN) 50% of the proceeds raised for Miss Cindy, who was actually dying of cancer at Pac Point, she had no problem lying to and stealing from people who were actually dying of cancer.

2. Amanda made others EXPERIENCE her “cancer” with her.

Her cancer experience became their own memories and experiences. Cherise Valdez, Amanda’s friend from church, explained it perfectly:

“Amanda lied… there’s no way! That’s not real, there’s no way! I refused to believe that. It didn’t match with what I thought in my brain of her. I’ve seen her in the hospital, so clearly there is something going on… so there has to be some type of truth to this for doctors to have kept her in a hospital for that long. There’s no way that this could all just be made up when I’ve literally seen her in a hospital bed with tubes in her arm.

There’s evidence in front of my brain that you are sick because the doctors are tending to you.”

Now you may be asking, “OK Traci, but how did she have access to the hospital so often? She must be really sick with SOMETHING!”

She could walk into the ER whenever she wanted and certainly would have been taken anytime she “peed her pants and passed out.” We heard Mahaste say that Cory made a big scene of needing her to frantically come in the middle of the night to pick up Amanda from the ER. They needed Mahaste to experience Amanda in a hospital and have an emotional response during the experience (frantic, middle of the night). Please, also note that if you are deathly ill, you are not being discharged in the middle of the night from the ER, you are admitted to the hospital. In Shania Twain’s words, if you are getting sent home in the middle of the night, then your medical emergency “Don’t Impress Me Much.”

I’m sure she also could have been actually hospitalized at some point with lies, saying she has lymphoma along with exaggerated/invented symptoms. If she states she has Lymphona (and that ER doesn’t have access to outside Medical Records “where she is getting cancer treatments”) and states she has 10/10 pain and reports passing out, OF COURSE they are going to evaluate her in the ER and may possibly even admit her to the hospital. There was also some discussion of drugs by Officer Martinez on the podcast, so I would not be surprised if she was actually in withdrawl at some point. However, I do not believe she was ever hospitalized for a long period of time. She would lie and send videos and photos, but unless one person (besides Cory!) can attest that they visited her every day consecutively in a hospital room, it didn’t happen.

3. Amanda got everyone involved and emotionally invested.

After being established with the group, she would “have a relapse.” She shared lots of photos and emotionally charged posts on her blog and social media. She would frequently share dramatic, ‘life or death’ needs, like if she didn’t get a specific amount of money for chemo, she wouldn’t live to New Years, or see her babies do ____. She gave specific missions and goals and it did bring the community at FCC together to reach these goals (i.e. gifting her family Christmas gifts, cash, and food, raising X amount for the next test or treatment, etc.).

I have heard stories of emotionally manipulative things she would share with her students, like how she was “afraid to die and leave her two young boys without a mother.”

Not only did her friends and family “experience cancer” with her, she shared in front of her Congregation and spoke at schools, “sharing her testimony” and in asking for prayer, those who were listening and emotionally supporting her were experiencing her story. Hell, even those who only knew of her online and had a parasocial relationship with her were effected by her story.

4. She didn’t work alone.

She used (or did she partner with?) her husband, Cory, and mom, Peggy AKA ‘The Roaring Goddess’ (instead of Grammy, she goes by ‘Goddess’). It was Peggy’s words that shared, “How is it that the universe could dare threaten to take our beautiful daughter from us with this disease? Screw you cancer. I've been lashing out like an angry lioness since August with the relapse of Amanda's Hodgkin's lymphoma.”

They would often vouch for her being sick, admitted to the hospital, or told others they “held her hand through chemo.”

BUT WHYYYYYY DID SHE DO IT?

Why did Amanda put in SO much effort, time, and energy into manipulating others and living a lie for almost a decade? This explanation seems to be a good theory that Nancy mentioned:

“Malingering is an act, not a condition.

Malingering was first used to describe soldiers who tried to avoid military service in the 1900s” (What to know about malingering),

“Malingering is not considered a mental illness. … The DSM-5 describes malingering as the intentional production of false or grossly exaggerated physical or psychological problems. Motivation for malingering is usually external (e.g., avoiding military duty or work, obtaining financial compensation, evading criminal prosecution, or obtaining drugs)” (Malingering).

Amanda received a tremendous amount of emotional support, encouragement, validation, status and feelings of importance, money, meals, babysitting/childcare, airfare, health supplements, and free places to stay for her “cancer diagnosis.” Basically, anything she wanted, she would convert her lie to obtain it:

Feeling lonely? Have a relapse.

Want to Visit New York in the Fall? Join a Clinical Trial!

Your husband needs a new truck? Fundraise for cancer treatments!

Don’t feel like working? Visit the ER!

Thank you so much to Nancy Moscatiello, for her persistence and hard work over the DECADE of #SCAMANDA. As Officer Martinez says, “Persistence Pays.” She, along with all of the strong women featured in the podcast (+ Officer Martinez), are all heroes for enduring what they did, holding onto truth and justice and putting an end to Amanda’s lies (for now…).

What do you think? Did I miss anything?? Thanks for reading!!

Traci Clark RN BSN OCN PHN

Instagram: @PoppieLady