Desperate times call for desperate measures, but one New York mother took it too far.

Shivonie Deokaran, a single mother of two boys, inspired a community to back her because they thought she was dying of cancer.

After one of her teenage sons and a friend created GoFundMe pages online that detailed her battle with leukemia and claims of having only 18 months to live, donations began pouring in from family, friends and even the town supervisor Paul Feiner, who helped raise $12,000.

Deokaran had already raised $25,000 through the fundraising websites prior to Feiner’s fundraising efforts. She then received another $16,000 donation after her son’s football team held a fundraiser.

Shortly after receiving the donations, concerns were raised about her condition and police asked to see her medical records in order to prove her diagnosis. That’s when Deokaran’s GoFundMe pages were abruptly taken down, her restaurant was closed and she moved to Florida.

Her boyfriend, Nikhlesh Parekh, insisted she was dying but after stopping the chemotherapy she moved to Florida seeking other treatments.

“It’s an open investigation,” Ardsley Police Officer Tony Vacca said. “That’s all we can elaborate on. We don’t want to jeopardize the case.” 

(Photo from top: Shivonie Deokaran via Facebook, GoFundMe.com)