Woman says cancer claim not a scam

ANGOLA, Ind. (WANE) - April Landis, 27, faces four felony fraud charges in Angola. Police said she lied about having a rare form of brain cancer to scam people out of money at a benefit held for her last month. Wednesday, in an exclusive NewsChannel 15 interview, Landis said she has a mental disorder that made her truly believe she was sick.

"Your mind can do many things and it can trick you," Landis said.

On March 18, the Angola community gave Landis thousands of dollars at a fundraiser benefit put together by her friends to support her and her family.

"I did not want the benefit and said that numerous times, but they're going to do what's best for my kids and husband," Landis said.

Four days later, Landis said a woman from a cancer services organization in Angola came to her home with an application for her to fill out to get assistance.

"She called back and said, 'Nothing on your paperwork adds up. I'm getting you for fraud. The police will be coming.' and then she hung up," Landis said.

Landis said that's when she went to police and gave the money collected to a detective . She then went to the Northeastern Center , a mental health facility in Auburn, to get help.

"It was hard to understand because I was seeing it and going through it and here these people are saying it's not real," she said.

She was diagnosed with Factitious Disorder with psychological symptoms.

Psychologist Stephen Ross said Factitious Disorder is when someone takes on the sick role with produced physical and psychological symptoms because they want the attention of being sick. He added it's unintentional and not designed to get secondary gain, like money.

Landis said she would have "real dreams," which for her, were indistinguishable from actual reality. In her dreams she was diagnosed with a "rare form of brain cancer," had doctor appointments and even chemotherapy treatments. She said she'd wake up with patches of hair in her hands from ripping it out during her dreams about losing her hair to chemo. That's also why Landis said she shaved her head before the benefit.

"I shaved my head because I looked like a Chia Pet. I had blotches missing and it would grow back differently, so I shaved my head," she said.

Landis admitted that a real doctor outside her dreams never actually diagnosed her with cancer. When asked what the name of the cancer was, it took her several moments to remember it. She said she's tried to block that from her memory. She finally said it was "pineal regional brain cell cancer."

She continued to explain that she would have episodes of syncope and headaches and that doctors couldn't make a diagnosis. Then, through Internet searches, Landis was lead to the brain cancer.

"Different cancers run in my family, even rare brain cancers," she said. "We just lost my grandma in January to [this brain cancer]. She had kidney cancer and it spread to her brain and lodged."

When asked why her family and friends never questioned her cancer claims without having an actual doctor diagnosis, she cited her grandma's illness.

"They just, everybody just believed what I was saying. I believed what I was saying. To my family after just going through this with my grandma, nothing was out of the ordinary. None of my family went to any appointments with me because obviously they were in my dreams," Landis said.

Landis is going to therapy once a week.

"I never meant to hurt anyone at all. I'm truly sorry for the hurt I caused everybody," she said. "Sorry isn't good enough I know. I just have mental challenges, but it doesn't make me a monster."

To those who accuse her of lying to get money to support her husband and her four children, she said it was never for money.

"If I was out to scam, I would have taken the money and ran, but I turned everything in because that's not who I am. It wasn't about the money," Landis said.

She still faces four felony fraud charges. Her next court date is May 14. When asked if she thinks she'll be found guilty, she replied, "I should be. Even though mentally I didn't know what was going on, I'm still willing to take the rap for what happened. I'm an average person that made an error."