For years Tracy Dart has been seen as a courageous survivor, selflessly raising money for charity while battling cancer.
But when it emerged her cancer fight was a lie, the people of West Seattle started to see Dart in a new light.
News.com.au report that Dart raised money for a local cancer charity and set up her own fundraising team. Her lie was exposed when she was rushed to hospital for treatment to her liver last week.
Following a search for her medical records, Dart’s family discovered that she had been lying to them about the cancer. There was no mention of cancer treatment on record.
During her 10 year deception Dart became a well respected fundraiser for the Susan G Komen Foundation, a breast cancer charity in the US.
Together with ‘team Tracy’ Dart raised a whopping $US400,000 for the Komen foundation through a series of sponsored walks and other events. Dart even raised $US28,000 by herself.
So far she has not been accused of pocketing any of the money herself.
The Komen Foundation have released a statement confirming that they had been in touch with Dart and her family.
“We are sad for Tracy and her family and hope that she, and they, will find healing in the days ahead,” The West Seattle Herald reported
“The Team Tracy community has been a steadfast supporter of our mission to end breast cancer since 2006. We can assure the community that Tracy did not receive any funds from Komen. Our records show that Tracy personally raised $28,541 for Komen starting in 2006, and that her Seattle and California teams raised more than $414,000 since 2006. This money has been used as intended — for Komen’s research and community health programs.”
Since the Komen Foundations statement was released, the ‘We Heart Tracy Dart’ and the ‘Team Tracy’ Facebook pages have been shut down. But Dart’s Twitter account is still active, giving people an avenue to vent their views.
“As a true cancer survivor reading the news about #tracydart makes me so sad.” tweeted one caner survivor. “Such a sick world we live in.”
