By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
A nursing student has been accused of lying about having terminal brain cancer to her friends and community college, allegedly leading to her getting preferential treatment. Chanda Thie, 31, told staff at Ivy Tech Community College in Richmond, Indiana that she was dying from glioblastoma, an aggressive, deadly brain cancer, in 2008, according to a civil complaint.
It led to the school to create a nursing scholarship for other students in her name, and she was also allegedly placed on a fast track to complete her degree, claiming it was her dying wish to be a nurse. As friends were fooled by her lies, one allegedly bathed and dressed her and pushed her in a wheelchair, according to the complaint which was reported in the Indianapolis Star Press.
She allegedly tricked them by never moving her right arm in public, and claiming she had a device for IV access under a bandage on her chest, as well as a catheter under an arm bandage. In yet more bizarre behaviour, she allegedly visited her former teachers to say goodbye before she died - leading one to write a eulogy - and she also allegedly attacked a care giver with a toilet lid.
Thie was hired as a nurse at Indiana University Health bone marrow transplant unit in Indianapolis pending her gaining a nursing license in 2008. But the complaint in the Indiana attorney general's office claims Thie is unfit to practice due to addiction of drugs or alcohol, mental disability and the illegal possession of a catheter.
The complaint is now seeking disciplinary sanctions, such as suspension, revocation or probation, but it unclear whether she is still working at IU Health. It comes after she told the attorney general's office in 2011 and 2012 that she was hospitalized for an overdose, depression and suicidal thoughts but later returned to work, the Star Press reported.
Despite the allegations, Ivy Tech spokesman Jeffery Fanter insisted that Thie was never fast-tracked or given preferential treatment due to her claims. He added that the scholarship was set up on the request of a staff member, but that it was cancelled when it emerged she had lied about her condition. The donations raised were then given to other nursing scholarships, he said.
