My Mother-in-Law Told Our Church I Had Cancer—Then a Woman in the Foyer Asked When I Start Chemo

Sheryl Tolman has kept the books for a potato warehouse in Pocatello, Idaho, for twenty years. Her sister Donna died of breast cancer, and Sheryl walked the Relay for Life for her in Donna’s pink bandana. On a Sunday morning in October, a woman in the church foyer hugged her and whispered, “We are all praying you beat this.” Sheryl said, “Beat what?” The woman looked at her hair. “Honey, when do you start the chemo?” Sheryl has never had cancer. But a fundraising page with her picture on it said she did, and two hundred and twelve people had given thirty-eight thousand dollars to help her fight it. The page was organized by her mother-in-law, who runs the prayer chain. At the bottom, it asked everyone not to mention it to Sheryl. When Sheryl asked her about it in the church parking lot, Marjorie pulled her coat tighter. “Oh, Sheryl. Nobody got hurt. People like to give.” This emotional family drama is a story about a mother-in-law, a golden son, a picture with the bottom cut off, and what happens when the woman who knows where every dollar went starts following the money. #FamilyDrama #MotherInLaw #RevengeStory #FamilySecrets #BetrayalStory #EmotionalStory #WomenOver40 #AudioStory