The cancer community has stayed strong these past few weeks as news of Ashley Kirilow’s fraud case was all over news stands. It’s been about a year now since I met Ashley and talked with her during which I believed to be an agonizing time for her, one she was going through almost alone. A few months later when she started telling me she wanted to start Change For A Cure, I was inspired and wanted to help her spread the word, so we did an interview on Youth Are Awesome, Everything You Need To Know From: Change For A Cure.
I was extremely upset when I found out that Ashley Kirilow’s charity was a fraud and felt completely disheartened when I learned that she had even faked cancer. Ashley went so far as shaving her head and eyebrows, plucking out all her eyelashes and starving herself to make it appear as though she was going through chemo therapy. I appreciate every single one of you who has posted a comment letting us know how this affects you personally and sharing news articles. It is also very important that if you ever attended a Change For A Cure function or donated any money to Ashley, that you send a message to the group on Facebook about how much you donated because they are trying to get a more accurate figure of how many donations she collected and misused. I just want to clarify that the group is still being used on Facebook to relay news information and to collect information about any donations that were made.
Youth Are Awesome has decided to leave the post up on the website and I believe that is for the better. It is giving people a place to talk about it. It is my hope that even though this is not the best circumstance that it is still raising awareness about how dangerous cancer really is and how people can protect and check themselves.
To anyone fighting cancer, in remission and to their friends and families, know that our thoughts are always with you and that we are all survivors.