The local who started the fundraiser to support the family of Sarah Kelly was appalled to find she had been deceived, after it was revealed the mother had fabricated the cancer diagnosis of her children, resulting in the platform gofundme mistakenly banning a person for an act of goodwill.
Sarah Jayne Kelly is due to be sentenced in Perth District Court for reckless conduct while having care or control of a child, which involved her repeatedly lying about her children having cancer.
During this they were subject to changes in their appearance that were publicised to appeal for funds from the public.
The family formerly resided in Pakenham where a gofundme page was started to support the fabricated diagnosis of Ms Kelly’s child.
Gofundme was contacted about the page that raised almost $3,000 for the family, where they said their zero tolerance for misuse of the platform saw them ban the creator and the recipient.
The Gazette tracked down the creator of the page, who is not a member of the family, but was the then director of Little Saints Early Learning Centre in Pakenham by the name of Emma Heywood.
Now living in Queensland, Ms Heywood was shocked to receive a call years from WA police years after her interaction with Sarah Kelly.
“When they called me and told me, I was like, you’ve got to be kidding me,” she said.
“It looked so real to us and I wouldn’t have thought that she would have been that type of person who would have done that to her own children.”
Included in the fabrication was the use of small hoses up the nose of her child to imitate a nasogastric tube.
Ms Heywood provided a statement to the police on the matter, where she explained how she provided options to support the Kelly family during the fake diagnosis, including starting a gofundme page, which Ms Kelly agreed to.
Ms Heywood was shocked that her goodwill built up over 20 years working in childcare could be abused and the matter hit home further as her mother battled cancer just last year.
“To go through that with the family touched me a bit,” she said.
“It was a lot and then finding out that their child didn’t actually have cancer and they just felt the need to make it up to be able to get a gofundme page and get money that wasn’t even needed.”
The Gazette informed gofundme of Ms Heywood’s account and her ban from the platform was reversed. The beneficiaries remain banned.
“It would be good if they could get the refunds back to the families that had contributed money,” Ms Heywood said.
Gofundme can review suspicious activity and users can flag pages for a report.
Claims for a refund can be submitted. If you recall donating to the page linked to Sarah Kelly and wish for a refund, submit a claim at gofundme.com/en-au/c/safety/gofundme-guarantee
