Martha Nicholas, a 42-year-old mother of two, said she was diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer when she was in her twenties. Holding back tears, she told a group of supporters in July that "each night, I wonder if it will be the last," according to a report from WRIC-8.
But the Virginia woman didn't actually have cancer, police say, reports WTVR-6, and last Thursday, she was arrested on two charges of obtaining money by false pretenses.
"Our investigation revealed no evidence of any cancer treatment at any medical facility that had been publicly identified by Martha Nicholas during her many public appearances and testimonials," said Capt. Michael J. Trice of the Hanover County Sheriff's Office, according to the Mechanicsville Local. "Investigators also found evidence of individuals that had given money to Martha Nicholas due to her proclaimed medical condition."
According to WRIC-8, several fundraisers were held to supposedly help Nicholas pay for her treatment. In one interview from a Relay for Life event last summer, available below, she tells a WRIC-8 reporter that she has raised over $10,000 selling necklaces and orange "Cancer Sucks" t-shirts.
According to The Daily Mail, her two kids, who are 10 and 13, thought their mother had cancer.
"I refuse to believe it, because I think no one makes this up," one supporter who raised as much as $500 for Nicholas, said in a video from ABC News, available here.
But Nicholas' attorney, Sam Simpson, denies his client was swindling anyone.
"This was not a scam to rip people off," Simpson told ABC News. "There is an illness. It's a mental illness, and I can't say more about this."
Nicholas isn't the only person to have allegedly faked cancer for financial gain. In 2010, Ashley Kirilow, a Canadian woman, pleaded guilty to one count of fraud after she lied about having cancer to raise money, according to CBC News.
And earlier this year, another Canadian man was charged with 13 counts of fraud after he allegedly swindled as many as 40 people for nearly $900,000.
WATCH: Report From WRIC-8: