Young woman who faked cancer handed 15-month sentence.

MILTON Wearing a psychiatric hospital bracelet on her wrist, the woman who faked cancer sits quietly as she is handed her conditional sentence and a lecture on faith, hope and charity.

There will be 10 months of house arrest followed by five months of curfews for Ashley Kirilow, who scammed quite a few and outraged many more when she pretended to have terminal cancer.

For 18 months, she convinced people to donate $12,000 to her bogus charity, Change for a Cure.

On Thursday, she pleaded guilty to one count of fraud under $5,000. Last November, she pleaded guilty to one count of fraud over $5,000. The other five fraud charges she faced have now been dropped.

She was also sentenced to two years of probation and 100 hours of community service. She was not ordered to repay any of the money because she isn't likely to be able to do so.

The scam stopped only when Kirilow, now 23, was admitted to the psychiatric unit of Joseph Brant Hospital in Burlington.

She's back there again.

Court heard that Kirilow is heavily medicated and being treated for depression, anxiety and personality disorder. She was admitted to hospital Feb. 12 and will likely remain there for at least another month, her lawyer Brendan Neil told the court.

Plans are being made to have her discharged into a group home, where she can receive proper support.

“It must be hard living in her head,” Kirilow's psychiatrist told Neil.

Court also heard Kirilow's troubles stem, in part, from growing up in a very “dysfunctional” family, which led her to take elaborate steps to seek attention. In 2008, after a benign tumour was removed from her breast, she concocted a story about having terminal cancer in order to solicit sympathy from family and friends.

“She wanted her parents to feel badly about her situation,” said Crown attorney Brian O'Marra. “Ms. Kirilow enjoyed the attention. She craved attention.”

Kirilow's mother was 15, her father 17, when she was born. They split up and went on to have separate families, with Kirilow moving “back and forth, back and forth.”

As a teen, she went to live with her maternal grandparents.

Her father was one of the people who blew the whistle on her scam.

Her psychiatrist and her lawyer recommended against Kirilow returning to live with her family once she is released from hospital.

To pull off her fraud, Kirilow shaved her head and eyebrows and plucked her lashes to look like a cancer patient.

Now, her ash brown hair is to her shoulders. In court she wore glasses, jeans, a long black cardigan and black pumps. She sat with her back to the courtroom — which was full of media — during her appearance.

She passed on the opportunity to say anything to the judge.

There was not one family member or friend there to support her.

Kirilow has been denounced, vilified and even threatened around the world, thanks largely to social media. There are entire websites devoted to hating her, with some people writing that they wish she would die of cancer for what she has done.

Many fell for Kirilow's hoax.

A kind-hearted woman she worked with at a Burlington realty office organized a fundraiser which brought in $7,000 for Kirilow and her fake charity.

Skate for Cancer sent her to Disney World.

Others reached into their pockets and gave small amounts to Kirilow when she set up a table at concerts and other fundraisers. There is no paper trail for any of those donations.

The Crown called what Kirilow did “tawdry.”

And it is.

Good people showed kindness to Kirilow. They were duped for their effort. There is a real concern that legitimate charities may suffer because of the disrepute Kirilow has brought to the act of giving.

But what Kirilow did is also incredibly sad. She is a deeply disturbed young woman who has had an awful life.