Woman speaks out about friend who faked cancer

When Keri Vance found out her friend had breast cancer, she said she felt horrible. She and friends selflessly planned a fundraiser to help offset costs that her friend would experience. After helping to raise about $4,500, Vance found out that her friend never had cancer.

The case is now closed for East Peorian Michel “Shelly” Mayberry-Pawlak, who was convicted in May of forgery in connection with a fundraiser Jan. 27, 2007, at the American Legion in Washington.

Her attorney, Steve Bush, said Mayberry-Pawlak was ordered to pay about $900 in restitution to La Gondola, who provided about $500 in food for the benefit; her ex-husband; and Alias, the band that played at the fundraiser.

She was also sentenced to 30 months of probation and received six months in jail, but that time was stayed pending a review next year. If she abides by the terms of her probation, Mayberry-Pawlak will see no jail time.

Vance, who now lives in Magnolia, Texas, said she and Mayberry-Pawlak met through a mutual friend.

“She’d always portrayed herself as a cancer survivor,” Vance said.

Mayberry-Pawlak started telling friends that she had breast cancer shortly after breaking up with the man she was engaged to.

“She told us she had breast cancer and was going for treatment,” Vance said.

“She had no money and had to pay all these bills. We just felt so sorry for her. She was going to lose her house and her car and she wasn’t working.”

That’s when Vance and a few friends decided to have a benefit to raise money to help Mayberry-Pawlak pay her medical and personal bills.

“We called places, we went places, we got a band to play, we made fliers and sent them out, put an ad in the paper, paid for the hall,  had to set up tables, and convinced a friend who manages La Gondola to donate food,” Vance said. “It was so much work.”

She added that she and friends shared out-of-pocket expenses for the benefit. These included renting a margarita machine and the alcohol and mix for the machine. Vance said they were never paid back any of that money.

“She (Mayberry-Pawlak) and I fought the whole time the planning for the benefit was going on because she said I wasn’t calling enough people and getting enough donations,” Vance said.

Because of this, Mayberry-Pawlak took things into her own hands.

“She would call people and say she was me and she was doing this benefit and she would get donations,” Vance said.

After the benefit, Vance said the friends and Mayberry-Pawlak were on “shaky terms.”

“She needed sympathy and to try and get us back, so she told us she had lung cancer and it was stage four,” Vance said. “She said she was going to Chicago each week for treatment.”

Vance said it was finally revealed that Mayberry-Pawlak did not have cancer after a friend studying to be a nurse noticed that she did not have the port that a chemotherapy patient receiving weekly treatment would have.

“She had no signs of chemo and she never did lose her hair,” Vance said.

Vance said she and friends became suspicious and spoke to Mayberry-Pawlak’s mother who confirmed she did not have cancer.

“We all figured out she was lying to us,” Vance said. “Her family and her mom knew nothing about it. She was telling her kids she’s dying and all of these sad stories.”

She added that she had a hard time believing anybody would lie about having the disease. She finally believed it when she received a letter from Mayberry-Pawlak that she wrote after going to counseling. In the letter, she wrote that she had done some things in her life that she regrets and she hoped that someday her friends could forgive her.

“She’s always putting the blame on something,” Vance said. “She’s still blaming this all on the fact that she was so distraught from breaking up with this guy that she was engaged to.

“She never once said she was sorry for lying to us.”