TikToker Exposed for FAKING Cancer: Maddie Russo Sentenced in Fraudulent Scheme
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Hello everyone and welcome back to True Crime with Kendall Rae. Thank you so much for joining me and if you are new, welcome. So today we have a case that so many of you have requested that I talk about and it's something that I have been following since this story first broke. I actually started doing updates on it on my podcast The Sesh which is a commentary and current events

opinion podcast. So we did quite a bit of coverage on it there, but I wanted to really dive in and do a full overview. Yet again, we are talking about someone who faked an illness, someone who faked cancer, which

which I've covered a few cases like this in the past year. And it is just mind-blowing to me how many people do this. And this time we're talking about Maddie Russo, who was also a TikToker and went to pretty extreme lengths to convince people that she had cancer. Now, what's different between Maddie Russo and Elizabeth Finch, who I covered earlier this year, is she was held accountable for her actions.

Although some people argue that it wasn't quite enough of a punishment, but we will get into all of that. But before we get into Maddie's story, I have just a tiny announcement. I wanted to share that we have launched a new neck met collection piece. And I know so many of you have requested that we put out something new. This time we have a long sleeve shirt. It's now available for pre-order. And I'm stoked about this one because it's a new color that we haven't done yet. It's a topaz blue color.

And it really makes the designs pop. I love how it turned out. And if you are interested, you can find all of our available NECMEC items at KendallRay.shop. And as always, 100% of the profit is donated to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. So please check it out. And before we get into it, I just wanted to issue, as always, a very large trigger warning here that this

can make you extremely mad, especially if you are someone who has suffered from any illness or has suffered from cancer or loves someone who has suffered from cancer or lost their battle to cancer. It's just such a slap in the face and definitely will make you angry. And to all of you out there who have battled cancer already,

are still battling cancer or still battling another illness or have lost someone to cancer or another illness. I just wanted to say I'm sorry that there are people out there that do these things. It is hard to wrap your mind around how anyone could be this twisted, but...

That's the world we live in. Thank you. Okay, let's go ahead and jump in. So back in 2022, Madison Marie Russo was a 19-year-old college student attending St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa. She was born and raised in Bettendorf, which is just a few miles down the road from where she was going to college and had graduated from North Scott High School just the year before. Now, I wasn't able to find exactly what Maddie was studying in college, but I did find out

but I can tell you it certainly wasn't common sense, human decency, or empathy. And I say that with confidence because

Like I said, back in 2022, Maddie decided to fake having cancer. That's right. And not only did she do this, which would just be terrible in general to do to your family and friends, but she did this very publicly. And as you probably know, TikTok really rose to popularity during the pandemic. That's when I first started.

discovered TikTok and started using it. And for many people, it's a source of entertainment. It's a way to just scroll and, you know, zone out for hours on end. But it also can, can be a great source for education and for awareness. TikTok can really be a place for people to connect with others who have the same interests or are going through things that are similar to what they are going through in life and feel a sense of community and

and support. And what's pretty cool about TikTok is you are able to connect with people outside of your inner circle. I mean, even on Instagram, you sort of have to, you know, put in work to find people to interact with that you don't know. But on TikTok, it's constantly feeding you content from someone you don't know. And it's often feeding you things that you're going to like, which is a discussion to be had on its own, because it is a little creepy the way that it

gets to know you so well and your algorithm becomes completely tailored for you. I have a lot of thoughts on TikTok. I certainly use it for entertainment and have found a lot of interesting people and learned some things on it, but it, you know,

It also kind of creeps me out. And in addition to in-person cancer support groups, this platform allows people to tell their story, ask for help and find community and just so much more from the comfort of their own home or even in some cases, their hospital beds. But like I said, for as much good that TikTok does have to offer, it's not just for the

It also offers a lot of glaringly obvious problems. And one of those problems being that there is no verification. And I'm not talking about the verification badge, because yes, they do have that if you have a certain amount of followers and whatnot. But there is no way to know.

If the person that you are watching is telling you things that are true. And so it's a breeding ground for misinformation, which I mean, most of the Internet is right. And if that person is convincing enough, they can manipulate thousands, if not millions of people. And this not only spreads misinformation and causes confusion, but it can also be very hurtful. And this is exactly right.

what Maddie Russo did. So let's talk about it. According to both her TikTok and a local news article that she told her story to, Maddie claims to have been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer on February 10th, 2022. And in what she calls the worst day of her life,

She said that she was sitting in her accounting class when she suddenly gets a call from the Iowa City Oncology Department. And here's what she told the North Scott Press in an article that was published in October of 2022. It was early in the morning and I had been anxiously awaiting these test results. My phone rang and it said Iowa City Oncology. I stepped out of the classroom and took the call.

They told me they had found a mass on my pancreas and that I had stage 2 pancreatic cancer. I was terrified, and I definitely still am. I was in shock. I didn't think it could be true. Probably because it isn't.

I'm so young and I wondered how this could happen. I went through all the emotions and I was pretty numb. Now, of course, this call didn't just come out of the blue. So how does Maddie say that she first began noticing that she was sick? Well, she says that she began feeling a little unwell.

She started experiencing sporadic fevers, bloody stool, and random nosebleeds. So when her annual checkup at the doctor came along, she obviously told them what was going on. And from there, she says they checked her white blood cell count and it came back not in normal range, which then led her to additional testing at the University of Iowa's oncology department. So after she gets this phone call with them and was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer over the phone, she was able to get a blood test.

She says that she wanted to collect herself being the trooper that she is and went back inside to finish the class. And that sentiment is going to be sort of a theme here. Maddie liked to often point out that even though she was battling cancer, she was still able to maintain a 4.0 GPA, go golfing and other stuff like that, which is,

to me is one of the most egregious things that she did. I know that cancer affects everyone differently and that there are people who are still able to maintain their health

typical lifestyle for the most part, but there are also a lot of people who just can't. There are people out there who aren't able to finish school, aren't able to maintain a high GPA, aren't able to do the things that they love or accomplish goals or have kids, things like that. For many people out there, cancer can really limit their

their lifestyle. And again, I'm not saying that's everyone with cancer, but for a lot of people, those things just become so difficult and so out of reach. And without getting too ahead of myself here, since Maddie was exposed, people with cancer have come out and say that they felt terrible about themselves because Maddie made life with cancer look so easy online. With Lucky Land Sluts, you can get lucky just about anywhere.

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So the fact that she seemed to sort of brag about how she was able to maintain everything and sort of glamorize it all just really...

pisses me off and I'm sure a lot of you feel the same but I'm getting ahead of myself here so let's get back to her story. So after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer Maddie shared that doctors were unable to perform surgery to remove the tumor on her pancreas and she said that the mass was

on the tail of the pancreas and it would end up being more harm than good to try to remove it. And then sometime after learning this, she was told that she had only an 11% chance of survival for five years. So at that point, she goes online and shares this information and makes it a point to say that she doesn't know if she'll live to see the day that she graduates college.

gets married or becomes a mom which is a devastating reality for so many people out there and I can't imagine having that realization and so you can hear it straight from her here's a clip from her since removed TikTok page where she talks about her diagnosis February of 2022 I had yearly lab work done just with my primary care provider as a standard checkup

And aside from starting to feel just a little bit off, my lab work came back and my white blood cell counts were not in normal range. So further testing was then done. And on February 10th of 2022, quite possibly the worst day of my life occurred. I got the call from my oncologist and they found a mass on my pancreas.

And I had stage two pancreatic cancer at just 19 years old. Scared is an understatement. I was terrified and I definitely still am.

But I'm really glad I went to my yearly health check because it would have been so easy to just skip it and say I'm fine. So please take my experience and get regular lab work done because the sooner you catch anything that is wrong, the better chance of outcome and survival you would have.

and it really could save your life like it did mine. It's a very lonely and isolating disease. So please don't take for granted enjoying every moment in your life, even the little ones. Please check in on your friends that seem strong, as those people are often the ones that are struggling the most.

They appear like they carry it well, however, they are being weighed down. Advocating for other patients and inspiring individuals along the way has been a coping mechanism for me. And I hope this story has inspired you as well. You know, when you get knocked down nine times up, you stand up ten more times. Every single day, I go to war with myself because in order to survive, I have to fight like hell.

The five-year outlook of survival is a slim 11%. 11%. At 19 years old, I don't know if I will live to see the day when I graduate college, get married, become a mom, etc. So in the meantime, I fight. I have to be so mentally tough to battle this beast.

I might have bad moments of weakness from time to time, but I never give in. Experiencing these obstacles at such a young age has given me incredible drive, determination, and grit. Type 1 diabetes does not define me. Pancreatic cancer does not define me. Leukemia does not define me. I am so much more than these awful diseases.

And instead, it's just another chapter to my story. And just watching her put on this sick performance infuriates me. And I'm sure many of you feel the exact same way. But of course, it doesn't stop there. The lies continue because of course they do. So let's continue on. Just four days after being told she had an 11% survival rate, Maddie claimed she began her battle with what would end up being 15 rounds of oral chemotherapy and 90 rounds of radiations.

During this time, she was still posting on TikTok. She was sharing her daily battles with people out there who many of them were also dealing with their own battles. And many people who were watching her genuinely cared about her health. And of course, she also put up a GoFundMe, which I will get more into later. And there's one TikTok video

that I wanted to play for you that absolutely infuriated me, and that's Maddie talking about her hair. Throughout her cancer journey, Maddie appeared at least physically in really good condition, and that included her long, healthy hair.

And I wanted to clarify here that not everyone who is going through chemotherapy loses their hair. A lot of people do, but it is sort of a preconceived notion that hair loss and chemotherapy sort of go hand in hand, which isn't the case for everyone. However, in Maddie's case, she was posting with seemingly long, healthy hair and people in her comments were curious. How was she able to maintain it?

What does she tell people? Well, when she explained it, not only did she attribute that to the brand of oral chemotherapy that she used, but she also said it was because she was taking biotin. Yes, biotin, the supplement. That's right.

That's right. And I don't want the biotin girlies out there to come for me. I mean, biotin is a great supplement, but it is such a slap in the face that Maddie attributed not losing her hair to this supplement to give people with actual cancer hope that biotin can save them from a very traumatic side effect of chemo, which let's remember she never even did chemo, is just, in my opinion, so, so beyond fucked up.

- Biotin, collagen and keratin are crucial vitamins that are shown to help with like hair, skin and nail growth. It's by the brand,

And of course, the lies continue. Three months after she started chemo and radiation, she explains to her followers that she got good news, that the doctor said...

the tumor was shrinking. But it wasn't all good news because of course it wasn't. Apparently, the cancer had spread to her blood. So not only did she have stage 2 pancreatic cancer, but she also now had acute lymphoblastic leukemia. And even with two types of cancer, now Miss Queen of Kicking Cancer's Butt made sure to tell people that she finished her school year with a 4.0 GPA and that she landed her dream job.

internship at John Deere. But then tragedy struck again. Who could have guessed? Even though her chemo and radiation was working, Maddie said that it was starting to have an effect on her liver, so she had to stop those treatments. And so she was put on new medication, this one for her liver, but she said five weeks into that, she started experiencing severe back pain.

And according to the North Scott Press article that she gave a statement to, this is when she found out that she had a football-sized tumor wrapped around her spine. A football-sized tumor. Really?

Okay, I mean, at least make it believable. And if you've lost track of the lies at this point, let's do a little recap, shall we? Maddie now has two types of cancer, a football-sized tumor around her spine, and all the while she is kicking ass in school, playing golf, and more. And she also mentioned in that article that years before all of this, she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, which I don't know if that's a lie, but if it is, what's the point?

I don't know. But either way, here's a few more clips of Maddie talking about everything so you can really get an idea of just how committed to these lies she actually was. It stays like these that are hard. And I try my best to stay positive and think that...

after my week of chemo is done, after round three is done, and I get a break until the next round of chemo. But sometimes it's hard to think like that when you're in so much pain and discomfort and everything is just going the wrong way. - Hey, just a reminder, no one prepared you for what you were gonna go through. There was no way you could have been prepared.

And you still handled it with grace. And you still did the best that you could. And that is enough. But sometimes I just need to step back and, you know, get reminders from friends and family like, Maddie, it's okay if you can't make it to the gym today. It's okay if you show up to the gym and you walk for 15 minutes and your body is like, nope, you can't do this, and you go home. I'm too sick from treatment where I can't do this.

I can't go anywhere. I can't do anything. I can't get ready. I just lay in my bed and puke, you know, and it's just extremely physically exhausting, but also the mental part of it. I think it's 10 times worse. You slept through your alarm, missed the train and your breakfast sandwich cold. Sounds like you could use some luck.

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And I can't tell Maddie's story without talking about how she manipulated people and non-profit organizations into supporting her financially and emotionally. So let's get into all that now. I mentioned earlier that a GoFundMe was created because of course it was. And it was created with the intention of soliciting donations to help pay for the cost of Maddie's treatment. It launched on March 2nd, 2023.

just a few weeks after she was diagnosed. Now, I don't know if Maddie herself created the GoFundMe or if a family member or friend may have done it for her, but either way, it certainly didn't stop her from collecting the funds. Now, the GoFundMe has, of course, been deleted by now, but there are screenshots and, you know, I'm going to read them to you. On February 10th, 2022, Maddie Russo found out that she has pancreatic cancer.

and has been going to battle ever since to win this war. Maddie is currently undergoing vigorous chemotherapy and radiation treatments that make her very sick. But just like the Maddie we all know, she never gives up and is a fighter. As one can imagine, this diagnosis has been very hard.

on maddie's family just like with any cancer diagnosis the cost of medical bills gas meals and expense can be a burden and that is something this family should not have to worry about if you are able to donations would be greatly appreciated to help cover medical expenses and allow maddie to focus on one thing only which is to show that she is stronger than cancer and will

And with all this, you know, there's both so much to say about it and at the same time, nothing at all. And this is where a crime actually occurs. At this point, I have covered several stories of people who fake cancer and I always make it a point to say that lying is a crime.

isn't a crime. I mean, it's awful, but it's technically not a crime. But what is a crime is using that lie to solicit money from innocent, unknowing people who are just trying to be kind. And that's exactly what Maddie did. And

And in total, Maddie scammed $37,000 from 439 GoFundMe donors. And that number is just what she was able to get from GoFundMe. It doesn't include the private donations that she was also getting. She also received money and gifts from nonprofits, school districts, and other private citizens. And when it wasn't about the money, it was about...

manipulating people into supporting her. And she did that not only through social media, but through actual speaking engagement.

The balls this girl has. So get this. Maddie was given the opportunity to be a guest speaker at her college, St. Ambrose University, where she was able to share her journey with the students and staff. And I so wish that there was video recorded of this because I'd love to hear the bullshit that she concocts on the spot. I mean, again, I just cannot imagine...

telling these lies in front of all these people. It's so, so insane. And not only did she do these public engagements, but she was also invited to be a guest speaker on the Project Purple podcast. Project Purple is a podcast and nonprofit organization that's working to fight against pancreatic cancer. They're

They were originally founded in 2010, and among many incredible efforts they're involved in, they seek to bring hope to those affected. And that's exactly what Maddie was on their podcast for. She told her story in an effort to bring hope to other people who are battling pancreatic cancer.

So not only did she scam this incredible nonprofit, but she also scammed all these people out there who listened to that episode hoping to seek comfort and inspiration from her words. And I'm sure a lot of those people listening actually did.

And even if her words were inspiring and comforting, it's really besides the point because everything she said was just rooted in pure evil and lies. Now, obviously, that episode has since been deleted with what has come to light now. But I do want to encourage anyone who is interested to check out Project Purple and what they're doing because it is truly incredible.

Just to share a few things, Project Purple has invested almost $3 million to support groundbreaking research efforts focusing on early detection and curative treatments. And they've also directly funded several potentially life-saving studies. Plus, they offer a financial aid program to help ease the burden that comes later.

with a cancer diagnosis. This includes assisting with living expenses, medical bills, and prescription costs. Project Purple has helped more than 1,200 families through their financial aid program, alleviating over $750,000 worth of daily living and medical expenses.

And that's sort of just a glimpse at the amazing work they do. So if you're curious about Project Purple and want to check it out for yourself, I will have their information linked in my description. And sadly, but not surprisingly, Project Purple wasn't the only nonprofit that Maddie scammed. The Old Strong Pancreatic Cancer Foundation was also...

a victim of Maddie's, and this time it was personal. Now, this foundation was created by Peggy Ohl, and she started it after her husband Brett lost his short four-and-a-half-month battle with pancreatic cancer. And later on in this episode, you'll hear from Peggy herself in a clip talking about the foundation, but also the pain of being deceived by Maddie. And the reason that this particular part of her scam was so personal is...

Maddie's parents actually grew up with Peggy and Brent. They went to the same elementary school and Peggy and Maddie's dad actually shared a birthday. So when Peggy found out that the Russo's daughter had the same type of cancer that killed her husband, she wanted to help right away.

through the use of her foundation. Now, the Ohlstrang Foundation, which is also amazing and I wanted to talk about it, is dedicated to raising awareness and providing support to those affected by pancreatic cancer in the Quad Cities area. As I mentioned in the beginning of this episode, this week I wanted to make a donation to the Ohlstrang Foundation because I think the work they do is so vital and incredible and I will have it linked below if you would also like to make a donation. But anyway, Peggy decided to provide Maddie with...

what the foundation provides everyone that they help, emotional guidance, support, as well as a $500 gift card. And even though it doesn't completely wipe away the financial burden that comes with cancer, it certainly can be a massive help. And of course, Maddie accepted everything that Peggy offered her, even though she knew that she was deceiving her and that those resources could have gone to someone who is actually sick and needed it.

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And if you thought that was the end of Maddie's nonprofit exploitation tour, you'd be wrong. Now, the next part of her scam has been misreported online, which made my initial coverage on my other podcast very confusing. We were very confused trying to figure this out.

I wanted to clear some of that up here. Basically, there are reports online that say that Maddie was a guest speaker for a pancreatic cancer foundation. However, the reporting on what that foundation was is...

kind of all over the place and is often misreported. Even though some sources say that she spoke at the National Pancreatic Cancer Foundation, it was actually the National Pancreas Foundation. And they do sound similar, so I can see how there was some confusion about this. Like I said, I was certainly confused back when I first started looking into this, but they are very different. In fact, the National Pancreatic Cancer Foundation even came out with a statement after Maddie was exposed saying,

saying they never had contact with her. There's even a photo of Maddie giving this speech on a podium, and you can see that it says National Pancreas Foundation. So I'm not sure why this was misreported so many times, not to mention the fact that she posted on her Facebook account and tagged the National Pancreas Foundation and that she was honored to speak at the event. Plus, this foundation released a statement of their own, which does make it seem like they did in fact work with Maddie in some capacity.

The statement reads, The National Pancreas Foundation does not condone the actions of Maddie Russo regarding her deceit to fraudulently secure donors for her false cancer diagnosis. There are thousands of patients, families, and caregivers battling this terrible disease, and Ms. Russo's actions have taken away valuable resources from these patients. They even tweeted out a link to the video where she spoke, but that video has since been removed.

And it doesn't stop there because lastly, Maddie also took advantage of the Nikki Mitchell Foundation, which is another pancreatic cancer nonprofit that helps support those who are diagnosed. And although there is less information on her deception here, we do know that she utilized their time, effort, and resources and took those things away from people who actually needed it. And I just can't wrap my mind around how she was able to sleep at night doing these things

to these incredible organizations ripping these resources away from people who actually needed them. I mean, it's just pure evil. But of course, her charade just

just couldn't go on forever because people online eventually started to see right through her bullshit. On Wednesday, January 11th, 2023, anonymous witnesses reported Maddie to the Eldridge Police Department. These people met with officers to point out the medical discrepancies they saw on her social media and also point out the fact that she was soliciting money for what they believed to be a fake cancer scheme.

They called these medical discrepancies terrible, life-threatening inaccuracies, meaning that the placement of her medical equipment, if it were actually real, was so inaccurate that it actually could fail.

And these people also pointed out that a lot of her photos were taken at home, not at an actual hospital or doctor's office. And luckily, it didn't take investigators long to confirm it because after they subpoenaed her medical records, they figured out quickly that Maddie had never been diagnosed with cancer. Therefore, she had been fraudulently soliciting money from both private citizens and these nonprofits, which is punitive.

is punishable by law. And so on January 3rd, Maddie was finally arrested on the St. Ambrose campus and charged with theft by means of deception. Then Maddie was booked into the Scott County Jail where she was held for four hours before paying her $10,000 bail. And I honestly wonder what she was thinking at that point while she was sitting in jail. I mean, did she think the jig was up? Did she think she could somehow...

continue the lies or convince them that it was all true. I mean, it's interesting to think about. But no matter what she was thinking, it was finally time for her to face the consequences of her shitty and evil, in my opinion,

And she was actually facing up to 10 years in prison for all of this. And after her arrest, officers executed a search warrant at her home and inside they found, quote, items of evidentiary value. During their search, they seized many items, including her gray Kia Sportage, a brown paper bag with medical supplies, bank records, an IV pole with a feeding pump,

two boxes of transparent dressing, a wig, cash, and nausea pills prescribed in the name of a relative. Scott County authorities also seized $33,230.76 from three separate bank accounts, two belonging to Maddie and the third a joint account between Maddie and a family member.

Now, once the word got out that Maddie was a big fucking liar, the internet went crazy and rightfully so. And some of you may have seen the TikToks out there of people trolling her. And honestly, a lot of them are absolutely hilarious. People pointed out the fact that she put in her feeding tube wrong and that the placement of her chemotherapy port was just straight up medically inaccurate.

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It says this process is not short but years ahead. Yet she's still smiling even with feeding tubes and IV poles. Let me show you the pictures. Here's our girl with her feeding tube that's not primed. Looks like TPN. Let's go closer to her nose. Is that the end of the feeding tube?

What is going on with that chest port? I am not a chemo nurse, but this doesn't look like a port to me. The dressing is really screwed up. To me, it's giving G-Tube vibes with that little circular piece right there. This was on her GoFundMe. And if you want to see more, just type in Maddie Russo on TikTok. There is endless content on it. But I do want to recognize that even though there are a lot of these trolling videos, there were also a

lot of people out there who were emotionally harmed by Maddie in a big way. I mentioned it earlier, but there were real cancer patients that were following Maddie for support. And a lot of them felt badly about themselves for not being more like her. And I just don't understand how she could have read those comments and knew that she was lying to all these people and not

have felt terrible every second of her day. And it came out that Maddie stole, yes, stole, other pictures from people who were actually sick from their social media accounts and

and tried to pass them off as her own, which reminds me a lot of Scamanda, which I recently covered as well. I'll have that link below if you hadn't seen that one. And it's also been reported that Maddie likely stole some of her story from a girl named Charlie Earl Pelding. Charlie lived in the Quad Cities area, had cancer, and was supposedly friends with Maddie. And people started to see that their cancer journeys sort of mirrored one another. And obviously, Charlie's story was real.

And Maddie's was not. And listen to how fucked up this is. Poor Charlie ended up losing her battle to cancer and Maddie had the nerve to post about it. This just absolutely breaks my heart.

I

I mean, there are so many things wildly wrong with that. One thing that really stuck out to me was that she said we could relate to each other 100%. What? No, you could not because you were not sick. God, the nerve of this girl. And luckily, a lot of her victims did end up getting their money back, which is great news because after the truth was exposed, GoFundMe issued a statement saying they have a zero tolerance policy for misuse of the platform.

and guaranteed that all donors would receive their money back. And of course, Maddie has been, rightfully so, banned from using GoFundMe. She can never have a GoFundMe ever again. And it just makes me so angry that there's so much misuse of GoFundMe. It is so hard to...

to trust what you see on GoFundMe, which is such a shame. And most people that use GoFundMe are using it with the right intentions, but it's people like this that just ruin it for everyone else because it has made a lot of people hesitant to trust what they see. I mean, think about it. Over 439 people donated and were generous enough to help her raise over $37,000. And it was

all based on a lie. But luckily, she finally had her day in court. So let's talk about it.

On February 28th, 2023, Maddie originally entered a plea of not guilty, even though she changed her plea to guilty during an arraignment hearing in March. And like I said before, she could face up to 10 years in prison. And so on October 23rd, Maddie was back in court for sentencing. In her apology, she talked about how she's learned from her mistakes and get this, she says she didn't do any of this for money, greed, or attention.

She then says she did it to keep her family together. Yeah, Maddie says she comes from a broken family and thought that baking cancer would bring them together. Wow. As you can tell, I'm getting quite heated and having trouble finding the words here. So let me just play a clip of her statement. Your Honor, first and foremost, I want to thank the court for the opportunity to speak today in front of you all.

I have not spoken this entire time while my case was ongoing for several reasons, so this is difficult to talk about, but I'm just going to try my best. This experience, sorry, has been by far one of the most difficult things to navigate in my life. It has been very scary and challenging in more ways than one.

I fully acknowledge that what I did was wrong and I am incredibly sorry. If there was anything I could do to take it back, I would. The reality is that I can't. The only thing I can do is correct it, learn from it, and move forward. I beat myself up about it the whole last year in silence because I didn't know how to tell anybody what was going on. After January, I have continually beat myself up about it as well.

I realize that I can't undo the past, but that doesn't mean that I still can't walk away from this experience as a better human and move forward. My goal now is to make amends in the ways I can, try to learn from my mistakes, figure out how I got myself here so I don't repeat this terrible mistake, and do what I can to turn this lesson into a positive.

with the hope that I can make amends and hopefully positively influence the many people touched by my poor choices, cancer, or people mistakenly thinking about following in a similar mistaken path. A lot of people have made speculation as to why I did this and how somebody who looked like they had everything together could have such a mess.

I didn't do this for money or greed. I didn't do this for attention. I did this in an attempt to try and get my family back together.

Just to vent for a second, I completely and wholeheartedly disagree, and I'm sure most, if not all of you feel the same way, that this was not about greed for Maddie, that that was never her intention, that it was just to bring her family together. That, to me, is just such a load of bullshit. If this was truly about bringing your family together, why would you include the entire internet? Why would you include these non-profits and donors? Make it make sense, dude. The

The fact that she went online and asked people for money to help her through her cancer journey is just the definition of greed. It just is. Like many of you out there, I just have a tough time believing anything that she said during her sentencing, especially after all the lies she's told. I mean, if she was able to lie for so long about something so serious, how are we supposed to believe anything she says now?

Or from now on. But Maddie made that statement, and then shortly after, Peggy Oll got to make a statement as well. And I just feel so bad for her, but I think she did an incredible job explaining how Maddie's deception affected her, and I hope that she can eventually feel able to trust again. My name is Peggy Oll. Margaret is my given name. And I, first of all, just feel...

Kind of betrayed by the Scott County Attorney's Office coming here Brent was an anesthesiologist and took care of a thousands of people over his career He was very much loved by his colleagues partners and pretty much all of the staff at the different hospitals He worked he was loved by his family and his friends when he got sick it was overwhelming how many people reached out to our family to help us and

As gifts, food and sometimes money were given to us, we felt so overwhelmed with the love and support that was hard to even comprehend.

Those four and a half months are impossible to even describe. But through it all, I made a vow to myself that I would never ever forget. And I would keep track, and I kept track as best as I could and wrote thank yous as the gifts came to us. A few months after Brent was gone, a few nurses that Brent worked with organized the Stroll for Old. It was a walk, run, and the money raised, which was about $17,000, was given to

Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, PANCAN, in Brent's memory. My boys and I walked in this event. I couldn't believe how many people showed up and participated. It wasn't long after that some of the nurses started talking about doing something annually.

I felt compelled to get involved because if they were going to do something, I wanted to be a part of it. Well, that was the very beginning of the Dr. Brent Ohlstrang Pancreatic Cancer Support and Awareness Fund.

With the help of nurses, friends, and the Trinity Health Foundation, we set out to start what was initially a $50 gift card to those diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. But it grew quickly and became a $500 Visa gift card given to anyone diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in our greater Quad City area. I stretched how much I wanted this to be a gesture of love and kindness.

to let people diagnosed know that they weren't alone and that people cared about them. I wanted it to feel like, I wanted to feel kind of like how Brent and I felt when people helped us. I stressed how I really wanted the process to be easy. People could be, because people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer often don't have the time to fill out an application or ask for help. They can get so quick, fast.

I never imagined somebody, someone so callously would fake they had such a devastating cancer as pancreatic cancer and willingly accept our gift of love and kindness and lie directly to my face. Wore our old strong sweatshirt that had her name on it and many other people who'd also fought pancreatic cancers name on it.

Many of them died. She took pictures with me. The Ohlstrang team and other recipients of our Ohlstrang gift, families who lost loved ones to pancreatic cancer, she took a picture with my late husband's dad. She stood at our event knowingly lying about her cancer. It's really unbelievable. She stood in front of me with her wig on knowing she wasn't sick at all.

Now, after Peggy spoke, there was one more important statement that came from Rhonda Miles, a representative of the Nikki Mitchell Foundation. She spoke about Maddie's deception, but also talked about feeling betrayed by prosecutors because prosecutor Kelly Cunningham wasn't even seeking prison time. And again, to clarify, we're talking about the prosecution here, not the defense. She actually recommended against it, saying that Maddie had no history of criminal activity,

had good grades, and deemed her unlikely to re-offend. They even asked for a deferred judgment, which if granted would mean that Maddie's record would be wiped clean after her sentence was complete. And when I covered this on my podcast, The Sesh, there were people that

the same way, that felt she shouldn't get prison time, that she should have had a deferred judgment. I mean, the opinions on it were really all over the place. So I'm curious to hear what all of you think. I feel like there needed to be way more accountability for her actions. But here's what Rhonda had to say, and I think it's really powerful and puts it into perspective for people who are kind of on the fence. Please proceed, Ms. Miles. Okay.

I want to reiterate what Peggy said. I do also feel a little bit of a betrayal. I just feel like I watched the prosecuting side turn into the defending side. So I just want to say that also. We're a small organization and the biggest thing our organization is known for is our patient assistance, financial and emotional.

We had patients on the waiting list while we were working with Madison to try to get her records so we could help her. Real patients patiently waiting. I used a precious ask. Madison, I used an ask. With the world's best pancreas surgeon to get you a second opinion,

And that's hard to get. And you took that precious ask away from a deserving pancreas cancer patient. It's disgusting.

It's disgusting. Now, while the judge did ultimately agree to keep Maddie out of jail, she said that a deferred judgment would just send the wrong message. And I completely agree. He believes that what Maddie did was not a momentary lapse in judgment and believes that anyone who deals with her in the future should be aware of the criminal scheme that she was once involved in. And I'm really glad he at least did that because I think that giving her a deferred judgment would...

been a huge, huge mistake, that people absolutely need to know what she did and that she needs to be held accountable in at least that way. I think it sends a message to other people who could do something like this, which we are seeing it more and more, and people need to know how serious it is. But in the end, 20-year-old Maddie Russo was given a suspended 10-year sentence and ordered to

three years of probation she has to pay thirty nine thousand dollars in restitution in addition to a one thousand three hundred and seventy dollar fine plus complete 100 hours of community service and in order to stay out of jail maddie must stay out of trouble for the next three years which of course only time will tell now

I'm really, really curious to hear all of your opinions on this. I know they're going to be all over the board. Me personally, I don't think this was enough. I think 10 years in prison would have possibly been too much, but I just don't think this was enough. I know she was young, but it concerns me with how many people we are seeing doing this more often. I just think it can't be stressed enough enough.

how wrong what Maddie did was and how it will have lasting effects on people for years to come. Yes, those people got their money back, and that's great. It still caused emotional harm for them and for others who were just manipulated by her, even if they didn't give to her financially, but also all of those nonprofits who...

can't get their time back. It is so frustrating that people do this, but I think it's incredibly important to cover these stories, to make people aware that these types of schemes do take place and that you've got to be careful, which again, really sucks for those out there who are battling cancer or other illnesses and need that help and support.

You know, this just hurts them so much. And that's why I think there needs to be more serious consequences for actions like this. I know I've shared a lot of my personal opinion here, but I definitely want to hear from you. So let me know.

That is going to be it for me today, guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode and make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple podcasts. It really does help me out. If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked, or you can just search Kendall Ray. I will be back with another episode soon, but until then stay safe out there.

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