Scamanda - Meet Scamanda

Episode Date: April 27, 2023

Amanda is a wife. A mother. A blogger. A Christian. A charming, beautiful, bubbly, young woman who lives life to the fullest. But Amanda is dying, with a secret she doesn’t want anyone to know. She starts a blog detailing her cancer journey, and becomes an inspiration, touching and captivating her local community as well as followers all over the world.  Until one day investigative producer Nancy gets an anonymous tip telling her to look at Amanda’s blog, setting Nancy on an unimaginable road to uncover Amanda’s secret.  Award winning journalist Charlie Webster explores this unbelievable and bizarre, but all-too-real tale, of a woman from San Jose, California whose secret ripped a family apart and left a community in shock.   Scamanda is the true story of a woman whose own words held the key to her secret.  New episodes every Monday. Follow Scamanda on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amanda C. Riley is a wife, a mother, a blogger, a teacher, a Christian, and Amanda C. Riley is dying. I remember her saying she's in pain, she couldn't get out of bed. It was heartbreaking. She became an inspiration in her community. Among celebrities and survivors across the world. She was putting out this blog like a weekly couple times a week and it was really like a soap opera. It was very easy to get sucked into the writing of it. She had very little time to live,

two beautiful young boys, just making it seem very undeserving. After being diagnosed with cancer, Amanda shared her rollercoaster journey on her high-profile blog, catching the eye of thousands and thousands of followers. I just relapsed again. With no treatment, I'll maybe make it two to three months. That was heart-wrenching, devastating. It was so much back and forth in your heel, and then your back, and then your heel, and then your back. Terminal miracle, terminal miracle. She went from who knows how long to live.

Maybe she could die today. Maybe she could die Tuesday, too. Oh, she's in Tahoe. And now her biggest problem is that insurance isn't covering the oxygen tank. She's had been through all this chemotherapy, can't have kids. All of a sudden, she's dying in six months,

and she's pregnant. It's like an miracle baby, the miracle baby. And it's just like, OK, yeah, it is a miracle. Jesus came into everything. Oh, there are no coincidences. It's all miracles from God. She used her blog to become an influencer before the term even existed.

Her devoted followers showered her with love, gifts, and donations to help her get better. So a lot of us did donate money. They had on stage and people would come up and give money. I prayed for every single night, every night. I thought good intentions could save her. Until she caught the attention of an investigative producer, I received an anonymous email.

They basically said, there's someone out there you need to know about. And if you could do anything about it, you know you should. There were links to a blog written by a woman named Amanda C. Riley. I'm reading it over and over and things aren't adding up. Something's just not right. Sponking a seven-year-long investigation. I've been on a lot of search warrants.

She was really cool cat. She's sitting on the couch just chatting. I thought, you are highest hell right now girl. And I sat just directly across from you and she said, oh, so your marketing is, you know, I am. Nice to meet you. I was like, wait, what?

Like, this is crazy. Like, tell me this is not true. This is nuts. I received a notification from the Department of Justice. It was shocking to say the least. I'm Charlie Webster. Listen to Scamander now, wherever you get your podcasts. Now, wherever you get your podcasts.