Speaker 1: Hi everyone. Before we get into this episode, I want
Speaker 1: to let you know that the first part discusses details
Speaker 1: of cancer symptoms and treatment. Please listen with care.
Speaker 2: She's doing so many lives. She's just broken so many hearts.
Speaker 2: That's just left me wondering did she ever have any
Speaker 2: love for any of us? And that hurts like hell.
Speaker 1: I'm Andrea Gunning and this is Betrayal, a show about
Speaker 1: the people we trust the most and the deceptions that
Speaker 1: change everything.
Speaker 2: It's a tale of Peter Rabbit. And I can see
Speaker 2: you've drawne a picture of Peter Rabbit that is actally.
Speaker 1: That's Angela MacVicar. She's a grandmother in small town Scotland.
Speaker 1: The day we interviewed her, Angela was babysitting her four
Speaker 1: year old granddaughter.
Speaker 2: Listen, Nana's going to ask if you will be quiet
Speaker 2: for a little while longer. Okay, okay'd be very very
Speaker 2: good and you'll make me very very happy. Okay, right
Speaker 2: on you go.
Speaker 1: Angela has lived her whole life in the Scottish countryside.
Speaker 2: What makes Scotland? I think of the people. If a
Speaker 2: stranger walks into a bar, they don't leave that bar
Speaker 2: until everybody knows who they are and why they're there.
Speaker 1: She came from a close knit family of all girls.
Speaker 1: When she was growing up in the seventies, I.
Speaker 3: Did actually want to be a midwife, but then I
Speaker 3: feel pregnant and had my first daughter, Joanna, when I
Speaker 3: was seventeen, so that can of put a hold on anything,
Speaker 3: and at that point I was thrown into growing up
Speaker 3: very quickly.
Speaker 1: Joanna was named for Angela's father, John, and just like
Speaker 1: her mom, she would be one of four girls.
Speaker 2: Which was hardgoing being a young mum and having four children.
Speaker 1: There was rarely a quiet moment.
Speaker 2: We always had a busy house with four girls that
Speaker 2: were always bringing friends home.
Speaker 1: Out of all of her girls, Joanna was the most driven.
Speaker 2: You never had to tell her to study. She would
Speaker 2: come home and go straight to her room do her homework.
Speaker 1: And she was a talented Highland dancer, which is a
Speaker 1: traditional Gaelic folk dance. On weekends, Joanna competed in dance
Speaker 1: contests across the country. But something changed when Joanna was sixteen.
Speaker 2: Joanna started to get really tired, and I put it
Speaker 2: down to her studying so hard for her exams, and
Speaker 2: then she started getting little lumps and bruises she would
Speaker 2: come and say, Mom, look at this. And then one
Speaker 2: time in particular, she couldn't get her shoe on, and
Speaker 2: she said, look at my foot, and on the bridge
Speaker 2: of her foot there was a lump and it looked
Speaker 2: like an egg. It was really quite a significant lump.
Speaker 1: Angela wasn't the type to call the doctor over every
Speaker 1: scrip or sniffle, but this time she was genuinely alarmed.
Speaker 1: When the first doctor dismissed it as a bug bite,
Speaker 1: she found another doctor and then another.
Speaker 2: I knew in the back of my mind it wasn't right.
Speaker 2: There was something going on.
Speaker 1: One day, Joanna came home from school with a large,
Speaker 1: dark purple bruise. It covered her whole lower leg.
Speaker 2: Then it hadn't been there in the morning when she left,
Speaker 2: and at that point leukemia hit me between the eyes.
Speaker 2: I knew that bruising was a symptom. So we went
Speaker 2: to the hospital the following day and they said, well,
Speaker 2: we need to do a bone marrow asspirit, but they
Speaker 2: told me that it was just to confirm what they
Speaker 2: already knew, and I just I kept having to leave
Speaker 2: her room.
Speaker 4: I kept having to make up excuses because I could
Speaker 4: feel myself getting panicked and upset, and I didn't want
Speaker 4: her to feel that or see it.
Speaker 1: It was a day that changed their lives forever. At sixteen,
Speaker 1: Joanna was diagnosed with cancer.
Speaker 2: Just by looking through a microscope, we could tell that
Speaker 2: she had chronic Malloyd leukemia.
Speaker 1: Today, there are a variety of treatments for chronic Mylloyd leukemia,
Speaker 1: but thirty years ago there were very limited options. Joanna's
Speaker 1: doctors were scrambling to find answers.
Speaker 2: The doctors would say, I don't know how she's functioning.
Speaker 2: I don't know how she can walk.
Speaker 1: A nurse had seen Angela pacing the hallways all day.
Speaker 1: She pulled her aside and gave her some stern advice.
Speaker 1: Angela was going to have to be her daughter's advocate.
Speaker 2: She wasn't given me tea and sympathy. She was giving
Speaker 2: me sound advice. And she was being a bit of
Speaker 2: a badass with me and just telling me without saying
Speaker 2: the words, pull yourself together. You're going to have to
Speaker 2: do this.
Speaker 1: So Angela tried to channel her fear into action. She
Speaker 1: was willing to go anywhere in the world do anything
Speaker 1: necessary to get Joanna's treatment. Next, she found a specialist.
Speaker 2: He then told us that she had to a bone
Speaker 2: matter transplant to survive.
Speaker 1: In order to have a successful bone marrow transplant, Joanna
Speaker 1: would need a perfect match. It's rare, but they found
Speaker 1: a possible match on the National registry. It wasn't perfect,
Speaker 1: but it was close and it was their only shot.
Speaker 1: But the procedure is dangerous.
Speaker 2: So what they do is they kill off all your
Speaker 2: bone marrow, so you had to go into isolation. You're
Speaker 2: in a room where everybody has to be scrubbed up,
Speaker 2: and it's very limited to how many people are in
Speaker 2: the room because an infection could kill you because you
Speaker 2: don't have any white cells to fight infection. And then
Speaker 2: the cells from a donor just looks like a bag
Speaker 2: of blood and it's hung up on a stand and
Speaker 2: you receive it through intravenous and the stem cell that
Speaker 2: go through your veins find their way to your bone
Speaker 2: marrow and they nest in your bone marrow and start
Speaker 2: to multiply and give you a new immune system should
Speaker 2: your body accept it. But Joanna's didn't. It wasn't a
Speaker 2: close enough match, and her body attacked the new cells.
Speaker 2: When that happened, she was left with no immune system
Speaker 2: and no donor.
Speaker 1: But for the transplant, Joanna didn't fully grasp how serious
Speaker 1: her diagnosis was.
Speaker 2: It was a few times we thought we're going to
Speaker 2: lose her. During the transplant, she was just so ill.
Speaker 1: After the transplant failed, Joanna's doctors were blunt.
Speaker 2: So so at that point they said, if she's going
Speaker 2: to survive beyond five years, we need to find a
Speaker 2: perfect match.
Speaker 1: That's when Angela turned to the Anthony Nolan Register, one
Speaker 1: of the first bone marrow registries in the world. It
Speaker 1: had been founded by another mother, also desperate to save
Speaker 1: her child, and the charity happened to be based in
Speaker 1: the UK. So Angela scheduled a meeting with a woman
Speaker 1: there and.
Speaker 2: She said, well, this weekend we have got a fundraising
Speaker 2: event going on in Glasgow. Would you and Joanna like
Speaker 2: to go along? And I said yes, because we have
Speaker 2: to do something. We can't sit back and just expect
Speaker 2: everybody else to build this register for us.
Speaker 1: So they packed their bags for Glasgow.
Speaker 2: Of course, Joanna said she had nothing to wear, which
Speaker 2: was a lot of the loneing.
Speaker 1: That weekend, they hoped to meet people who could help Joanna.
Speaker 2: And that's where I met Lindsay McCallum.
Speaker 1: Lindsay worked for the Anthony Nolan Trust and she would
Speaker 1: be Angela and Joanna's ambassador, guiding them through the process
Speaker 1: of growing the registry and trying to find Joanna's match.
Speaker 2: When we arrived at the hotel, she created us so
Speaker 2: warmly and kindly, and she was very caring and inviting.
Speaker 5: That night at the fundraiser, there was an auction and
Speaker 5: there was people up speaking, and while Lindsay was speaking
Speaker 5: on the stage, Joanna actually got up off her chair
Speaker 5: and walked.
Speaker 2: Up onto the stage and took the mic and told
Speaker 2: people that she needed to find a bone marrow match
Speaker 2: or she was going to die. I saw her blossom
Speaker 2: on that stage. She didn't cry, She just told people
Speaker 2: that she wanted to live and thankful for being there
Speaker 2: and for helping her.
Speaker 1: In that moment, something shifted. Joanna was no longer just
Speaker 1: a patient. She wanted to be an advocate, and an
Speaker 1: idea was born. The Anthony Nolan Trust would partner with
Speaker 1: Joanna to launch a media campaign. They would use her
Speaker 1: story to raise awareness and get new people to donate
Speaker 1: bone marrow. Every new donor could potentially be Joanna's match.
Speaker 1: They got the campaign off the ground with Lindsay's help,
Speaker 1: and the public immediately took notice.
Speaker 2: When we started Joanna's campaign, the media just ate it up.
Speaker 2: They just loved her. She loved the camera. The camera
Speaker 2: loved her. Yeah. She made friends with lots of different
Speaker 2: Scottish celebrities and they just loved their zest for life.
Speaker 1: Joanna's story struck a chord. Her personality, her humor, her
Speaker 1: sheer will to live. It was irresistible. Plus, the campaign
Speaker 1: gave Joanna a larger purpose.
Speaker 2: It's how ridiculous, but she had a blast. She just
Speaker 2: wanted to live. That was a message, I just want
Speaker 2: to live.
Speaker 1: Even though the transplant hadn't been successful, Joanna was well
Speaker 1: enough to take her exams and get into college. There
Speaker 1: she discovered her love of journalism.
Speaker 2: She used to say, when I'm better, I'm going to
Speaker 2: start a newspaper and it's going to be called good
Speaker 2: News Only It's going to just be a newspaper full
Speaker 2: of good news that people will want to read and
Speaker 2: not be drawn into dooming gloom. Wouldn't that be a
Speaker 2: wonderful world.
Speaker 1: As the campaign continued to grow, so did Angela's involvement.
Speaker 2: I started to work for the Anthony Nolan Trust. I
Speaker 2: was a donor recruitment manager. I then started running clinics
Speaker 2: where people could come along and put their name down
Speaker 2: to be on their register. And everybody was coming to
Speaker 2: join the register, coming in their thousands.
Speaker 1: It was intense work, and Angela says it couldn't have
Speaker 1: been accomplished without Lindsay's help. The woman they'd met at
Speaker 1: the fundraiser was becoming an integral part of their lives.
Speaker 1: Lindsay went above and beyond a Joanna's campaign, and she
Speaker 1: mean business.
Speaker 2: She was ex military, had been in the Navy, and
Speaker 2: so she had that kind of great organizational skills and
Speaker 2: she was charming. She attracted people good fund raiser. Because
Speaker 2: we were running a campaign together, the relationship became pretty intense.
Speaker 1: Lindsay and Angela became best friends, you know.
Speaker 2: The relationship grew organically. She would phone me during our
Speaker 2: work hours and then that would expand it and we
Speaker 2: wouldn't just talk work. We just kicked off. We just
Speaker 2: kicked off really well and laughed at the same things.
Speaker 2: We talked about the same things. We both had families
Speaker 2: that were very similar, very close, loving families.
Speaker 1: They had a lot in common and Lindsay made her
Speaker 1: feel less alone. Lindsay didn't have a child with cancer
Speaker 1: or a personal stake in growing the donor Registry, but
Speaker 1: she was passionate about the work and the people she
Speaker 1: was helping.
Speaker 6: She just had an aura and we both have a
Speaker 6: common goal in increasing the register and helping people, and
Speaker 6: she cared about Joanna.
Speaker 1: As the year went on, Lindsay became a part of
Speaker 1: their family.
Speaker 2: Her families quickly became intertwined. I absolutely adored her mother
Speaker 2: and her sisters.
Speaker 1: Lindsay and Angela started calling each other first thing in
Speaker 1: the morning every morning.
Speaker 2: We're both early birds. Either she would text me or
Speaker 2: I would text her saying are you awake yet? And
Speaker 2: I don't know what we even spoke about. You know
Speaker 2: when you have a relationship and you can be in
Speaker 2: the phone for an hour and then you have to
Speaker 2: phone back in an hour's time. Oh, I forgot to
Speaker 2: tell you. I could speak to her five times a day.
Speaker 2: That was the kind of relationship we had. You didn't
Speaker 2: get one without the other. Hell Is and Pickle.
Speaker 1: The two women founded an annual ball together as a
Speaker 1: fundraiser for the registry. By that point, Lindsay felt like
Speaker 1: a sister.
Speaker 2: It's hard to describe just how intense a friendship it was.
Speaker 2: I feel it was almost because we had that goal
Speaker 2: to save Joanna's life.
Speaker 1: Joanna herself was determined to live and she was open
Speaker 1: to trying anything.
Speaker 2: She spoke to doctors about complimentary therapies. Should you have reflexologies,
Speaker 2: should you have massage? And thirty years ago doctor scoffed
Speaker 2: and rolled her eyes and said, yeah, you could try
Speaker 2: that if you like.
Speaker 1: But Joanna was ahead of her time. She believed in
Speaker 1: western medicine, and she also believed in the power of rest, food,
Speaker 1: and joy. While they kept waiting for the perfect Matchna
Speaker 1: decided the best treatment would be living her life to
Speaker 1: the fullest.
Speaker 2: She was gotzi. She would do things like skydive. She
Speaker 2: went scuba diving.
Speaker 1: She'd been living with cancer for almost ten years. When
Speaker 1: she was twenty four, she planned a backpack around the world.
Speaker 1: Her doctor has cleared her to go so long as
Speaker 1: she had blood work done every few weeks, and Joanna
Speaker 1: took the chance.
Speaker 2: She went all over. She was in Thailand, all these
Speaker 2: kind of places fichi, I mean made in mind. Joanna
Speaker 2: was tiny, tiny little thin thing. Her backpack was almost
Speaker 2: as big as her. It was huge, and while she
Speaker 2: was in Australia, I got a phone call to say
Speaker 2: she had been admitted.
Speaker 1: She started feeling short of breath and it turned out
Speaker 1: she had a collapsed long.
Speaker 2: Her lungs are deteriorating. Eventually they managed to get her
Speaker 2: on a flight and get her back to Scotland, and
Speaker 2: then we discovered that she actually needed a heart and
Speaker 2: long transplant.
Speaker 1: Everyone knew what it meant. This was the beginning of
Speaker 1: the end and she never.
Speaker 2: Ever got that long transplant.
Speaker 1: Joanna died at home with her mom and sisters by
Speaker 1: her side. She was twenty seven.
Speaker 2: It was just also unfair. Everything's unfair, though, isn't it.
Speaker 2: You know, with a disease, it's never fair. But she
Speaker 2: just desperately wanted to live, and.
Speaker 1: Allat immediately threw herself into planning a celebration of life
Speaker 1: for Joanna.
Speaker 2: I remember saying to somebody, this is the last thing
Speaker 2: I get to do for my child.
Speaker 1: The service would be joyful and vibrant, just like Joanna.
Speaker 2: We asked everybody not to wear black, to wear very
Speaker 2: colorful clothing. From a tiny little girl, Joanna loved rainbows.
Speaker 2: As a toddler. She would scream when she saw a rainbow,
Speaker 2: she was fascinated.
Speaker 7: And when she was very ill and she knew she
Speaker 7: was dying, she said to me, when we can no
Speaker 7: longer be together.
Speaker 2: I will send you a sign and we can meet
Speaker 2: in the middle of rainbow.
Speaker 1: As they plan the service, Lindsay was there to help always.
Speaker 2: Lindsay actually asked if she could reader Yuligi. I was laying,
Speaker 2: my goodness, could you do that? And she was like,
Speaker 2: I really, yeah, I could. I want to? And I
Speaker 2: was like, oh, that's beautiful.
Speaker 1: Even in this dark time, Angela felt like she was
Speaker 1: surrounded by love, that she was supported by good and
Speaker 1: caring people.
Speaker 2: I thought Lindsay McCallum was one of these people, and
Speaker 2: she wasn't.
Speaker 1: After Joanna passed away, Angela leaned on her family and friends,
Speaker 1: especially her best friend Lindsay. At this point, they'd been
Speaker 1: best friends for nearly a decade. Their daily morning calls
Speaker 1: became a lifeline for Angela.
Speaker 2: After Johanna passed. You know, Lindsey would be the first
Speaker 2: person I would speak to in the morning, and she
Speaker 2: would message me and say a yap where I would
Speaker 2: if I was awake, I would miss a yap. And
Speaker 2: we would chat and she would just laugh with me
Speaker 2: about the funny things. Joanna would get up to the
Speaker 2: funny things that she would say, and it lifted my spouts.
Speaker 2: And it was just she was always there. She was
Speaker 2: so supportive. Never heard her cry right enough, never cried,
Speaker 2: but I just thought that she was just composed.
Speaker 1: Their friendship went on like this for another seven years.
Speaker 1: During this time, Angela was reflecting a lot on Joanna
Speaker 1: and how she was always looking for holistic treatments, ways
Speaker 1: to make herself feel better and find joy. She thought
Speaker 1: about how Joanna used to say.
Speaker 2: There should be a place that people go and they
Speaker 2: can just sample.
Speaker 8: All these things and find out what you can do
Speaker 8: to bring more joy, more peace, more relaxation, less stress.
Speaker 1: One day, when Lindsay and Angela were on the phone,
Speaker 1: they came up with an idea together, a charity that
Speaker 1: would provide exactly that.
Speaker 2: Seven years after Joanna passed away, Lindsay and I decided
Speaker 2: in her memory to launch Rainbow Valley to help other people.
Speaker 1: Rainbow Valley to Joanna's vibrancy and her love of rainbows.
Speaker 1: They would offer a two day residential program for people
Speaker 1: with cancer. The course would include coaching on mindfulness, diet
Speaker 1: and emotional well being.
Speaker 2: Remove Valley is not a life saving charity. Remove Aalley
Speaker 2: is a life changing charity. And it doesn't matter how
Speaker 2: long you have to live, it's what can you do
Speaker 2: to take back control of a diagnosis of cancer? I
Speaker 2: live a more joyous life.
Speaker 1: Luckily, Lindsay knew how to start a charity and she
Speaker 1: was eager to help.
Speaker 2: She had seventeen eighteen years experience as a fund raiser
Speaker 2: for a big organization, so she was obviously well respected
Speaker 2: within the sector, and I felt she had the expertise.
Speaker 2: Johanna gave us the vision, Johanna gave us our mission
Speaker 2: why it was the storyteller, and Lindsay was the expertise
Speaker 2: behind pulling it together.
Speaker 1: They applied for charitable status and found experts to lead
Speaker 1: their courses, and then, in a twist of faith, Lindsay
Speaker 1: was laid off from her job at the Anthony Nullan Trust,
Speaker 1: so she became Rainbow Valley's first official employee.
Speaker 9: It made sense that Lindsay, you know, after being made redundant,
Speaker 9: worked for Rainbow Valley, and we pulled the board together,
Speaker 9: a board of trustees, and we took advice from Lindsay.
Speaker 2: We took her lead because she was the one with
Speaker 2: twenty years experience.
Speaker 9: I was so grateful that we were able to do
Speaker 9: something like this together in Joy and his memory.
Speaker 2: I thought it was all meant to be.
Speaker 1: Under Lindsay's leadership, the charity really came together. In twenty twelve,
Speaker 1: Rainbow Valley officially began running courses.
Speaker 2: She was the head of the charity. She was involved
Speaker 2: in the day to day running of everything. I trusted
Speaker 2: her implicitly implicitly.
Speaker 1: A few years into managing the charity together, the friends
Speaker 1: faced their first real conflict. Angela had started to question
Speaker 1: some of Lindsay's choices.
Speaker 2: I felt she was spending money on something that wasn't
Speaker 2: necessary and it was a bit of a waste of resources.
Speaker 2: And I spoke to Lindsay about this, and I remember
Speaker 2: saying to her, this is extremely difficult for me because
Speaker 2: you're my best friend and I adore you, but this
Speaker 2: is a business conversation and I don't feel this is
Speaker 2: the way we should be running.
Speaker 1: And Lindsay didn't take it well.
Speaker 2: It was the first time I had ever seen I
Speaker 2: don't want to overexaggerate and say aggression but it was
Speaker 2: like she was angry. I saw it as not a fallout,
Speaker 2: but we disagreed on something which we hadn't done before.
Speaker 1: But it was more than a disagreement. It was a
Speaker 1: turning point. After that conversation, Lindsay became cold and she
Speaker 1: came to Angela with some feedback of her own.
Speaker 2: She started telling me that people didn't like me and
Speaker 2: that I was causing upset on the course. I was
Speaker 2: upsetting the staff, and I was upsetting the attendees, and
Speaker 2: I was creating a negative atmosphere.
Speaker 9: And of course I loved her and I didn't want
Speaker 9: to upset her.
Speaker 2: I didn't want to upset anybody on the course. That
Speaker 2: she had me convinced that I was creating this negative atmosphere.
Speaker 1: Angela was taken aback, but she trusted Lindsay's judgment. She
Speaker 1: didn't want to be a problem or get in the
Speaker 1: way of their mission.
Speaker 2: And she told me that I shouldn't come to the
Speaker 2: courses anymore. I wasn't being useful, so I kind of
Speaker 2: stepped back from that.
Speaker 1: She wanted to do what was best for the charity,
Speaker 1: but Angela was hurt, and to make matters worse, their
Speaker 1: friendship was changing.
Speaker 2: During that time, our relationship really deteriorated, and I was
Speaker 2: very confused, you know, because Lindsay would turn quite nasty
Speaker 2: at times, and it just wasn't like her, you know.
Speaker 2: I would try to speak to and see what's wrong,
Speaker 2: and she'd say nothing, nothing, So she had me feeling
Speaker 2: I was imagining it.
Speaker 1: Lindsay stopped calling in the mornings.
Speaker 2: I would then be phoning and she would ignore my calls,
Speaker 2: and then when I would say to you, I phoned you,
Speaker 2: she would say, what if I got a misscall from you.
Speaker 1: Then one night, Angela opened her door to find all
Speaker 1: three of her daughters standing in front of her.
Speaker 2: The girls all came to my house one evening and said,
Speaker 2: you really need to get help. You're not happy.
Speaker 1: Angela knew Lindsay had something to do with this, and
Speaker 1: her daughters confirmed it. Lindsay had approached them and raised
Speaker 1: her concerns.
Speaker 2: She was saying to them things like, your mum really
Speaker 2: needs help. I know. She said a lot of trauma
Speaker 2: in her life, but she really needs help, and that
Speaker 2: I was going.
Speaker 10: Off my not.
Speaker 2: And I was like, absolutely not.
Speaker 1: Now Lindsay was interfering in her relationship with her daughters.
Speaker 1: It started to feel like it was orchestrated, but to
Speaker 1: what end. Angela couldn't figure it out. And on top
Speaker 1: of that.
Speaker 2: I felt she was pushing me out, telling me that
Speaker 2: I was interfering in the day to day running of
Speaker 2: the charity and that she ran the charity.
Speaker 1: But one day Angela stopped by a Rainbow Valley course
Speaker 1: that Lindsay was running. She stood in the back and
Speaker 1: kept to herself. Lindsay was giving the introduction to the group. Typically,
Speaker 1: they shared Joanna's story at the start of every course,
Speaker 1: but this time Lindsay skipped over it.
Speaker 2: I remember going to a day course and normally when
Speaker 2: we have our intro slides, we talk about what Rainbow
Speaker 2: Valley is the inspiration and we have a picture of
Speaker 2: Joanna up and we talk about this is where it started,
Speaker 2: this was a dream of Joanna's. But this time she
Speaker 2: didn't mention Joanna on the course. I said after.
Speaker 11: It wasn't a reason why we stopped talking about Joanna,
Speaker 11: and she said, because I don't really think it's relevant.
Speaker 1: Angela was at a loss for words. She didn't recognize
Speaker 1: Lindsay or where she was taking Rainbow Valley.
Speaker 2: And then in twenty twenty two in January, she said
Speaker 2: to me, there's a problem.
Speaker 1: Lindsay said Covid had taken a toll on the charity's
Speaker 1: bottom line, and she.
Speaker 2: Said, we've managed to bob along because we got some
Speaker 2: grants to run the online courses. But now we're through
Speaker 2: all that and it's not viable. We don't have enough money.
Speaker 2: The charity's going to close. She announced this at a
Speaker 2: board meeting and they all kind of looked at the
Speaker 2: figures and were like, we're in trouble here.
Speaker 1: It was bleak. Lindsay explained that the best option was
Speaker 1: to wind down the charity at the end of the year.
Speaker 2: I said, wait a week moment, we cannot make this
Speaker 2: decision and walk out of the room saying that's it.
Speaker 2: We're folding. Give us three weeks. Let reconvene in three
Speaker 2: weeks and if we all go away and speak to
Speaker 2: everybody and anybody and see if we can find a company,
Speaker 2: a trust fund, somebody that will save us, somebody that
Speaker 2: will give us a big donation.
Speaker 1: Angela started working the founds. Within a week, someone found
Speaker 1: a dinner willing to help get Rainbow Valley back on track.
Speaker 2: I was so relieved and so excited. I met Lindsey
Speaker 2: before the board meeting and I thought she would have
Speaker 2: been elated, but she was like, oh, that's great.
Speaker 1: Instead of celebrating, Lindsay announced that she would be stepping
Speaker 1: down from the charity for good.
Speaker 2: She said, I'm leaving Rainbow Valley. I don't want to
Speaker 2: do fundraising anymore. I'm good to resign.
Speaker 1: On her last day, the staff took her out to
Speaker 1: lunch and bought her flowers. She and Angela said a
Speaker 1: cordial goodbye. Angela felt like it was a new chapter
Speaker 1: for the charity. The only thing left to do was
Speaker 1: close the accounts Lindsay used. Years ago, she set up
Speaker 1: a separate bank account for their annual gala. Angela knew
Speaker 1: about the account, but she wasn't involved in managing it.
Speaker 2: I had mentioned this other account that was for the ball,
Speaker 2: which Lindsay had advised that we set up as a
Speaker 2: friend's account. I knew that she had done this when
Speaker 2: she was with the Anthony Nolan Trust previously, so I
Speaker 2: just thought, well, that's how it's done.
Speaker 1: The bank account Lindsay set up was called the Friends
Speaker 1: of Rainbow Valley.
Speaker 2: And the treasurer said, oh that account is it? Closed,
Speaker 2: and I was like, well, I don't know, and she said,
Speaker 2: well it needs closed or the name changed.
Speaker 1: So Angela went to the bank and got hard copies
Speaker 1: of the account statements to take back to the office
Speaker 1: and reconcile. Angela's adult daughter, Kendall, was working for Rainbow
Speaker 1: Valley at the time, helping close out the books for
Speaker 1: the end of the year.
Speaker 2: I took it back to the office, put it down
Speaker 2: on the table and I said to Kendall, let's go
Speaker 2: through this. And Kendall continued looking through it, and she said, Mum,
Speaker 2: come back and look at this. Why is all this
Speaker 2: getting paid out to Lindsay? Why why is all these
Speaker 2: payments going out to Lindsay.
Speaker 1: Angela went to look and she saw dozens of transfers,
Speaker 1: small transfers, a few hundred dollars each. But the closer
Speaker 1: they looked, they realized it quickly totaled a huge sum
Speaker 1: of money and it was all made out to one person,
Speaker 1: Lindsay McCallum. As Angela and her daughter Kendall were going
Speaker 1: through the end of year finances for Rainbow Valley, they
Speaker 1: found something alarming. Dozens of payments to Lindsay from a
Speaker 1: bank account that only she.
Speaker 2: Used, and she said, why's all this compeyed out to
Speaker 2: Lindsay and I said, it will be expenses, and she
Speaker 2: said no, look at dates. Why would she have expenses? March, April, May,
Speaker 2: June every month, and it's sometimes it's twice a day.
Speaker 2: I was really confused, and Kendall just looked at me,
Speaker 2: and I was like, no, she's been horrible to me,
Speaker 2: but she's not a thief. I know that her family
Speaker 2: are very wealthy, she's very comfortable, and she's not a thief. No,
Speaker 2: not a chance.
Speaker 1: It's true that Lindsay's husband came from a wealthy family
Speaker 1: and she'd been collecting a salary from Rainbow Valley. She
Speaker 1: didn't need money. Angela felt like there had to be
Speaker 1: another explanation, so she reached out to Lindsay to clear
Speaker 1: it up.
Speaker 2: I had sent a message saying, I'm confused why all
Speaker 2: these payments are going out to you and are the
Speaker 2: expenses and the amounts don't add up. She says it
Speaker 2: was expenses. I was just paying things and drips and drabs,
Speaker 2: and I wanted to believe that. And I came back
Speaker 2: into the office and I said to Kendall, it's fine,
Speaker 2: just expenses, and Kendall said, bullshit, bullshit. She says, open
Speaker 2: your eyes and look at it properly.
Speaker 1: She needed answers, so she called Lindsey back and she
Speaker 1: was just.
Speaker 2: Coming up with, you know, lots of different excuses, and
Speaker 2: then she said, well, I should have told you this,
Speaker 2: but a good few years ago, Rainbow Valley was in
Speaker 2: financial trouble and I put a lump summon to dig
Speaker 2: us out a hole, and I should have told you
Speaker 2: about it. And I said how much? How much did
Speaker 2: you put in? And she said, oh, I can't remember that.
Speaker 2: That was me trying to claw the money back. And
Speaker 2: I said no, I says, that's not transparent. You can
Speaker 2: do that. Bring in all your statements, bring in all
Speaker 2: your bank accounts, and you and I will sit at
Speaker 2: this table and we will go through everything and we'll
Speaker 2: make everything transparent so that every penny's accounted for. And
Speaker 2: she said I can't.
Speaker 1: So Angela ended the car. She needed time to think,
Speaker 1: and at.
Speaker 2: That point, you know, I'm disgusted. We packed up and
Speaker 2: drove home, and the whole way home, my head was
Speaker 2: just spinning. And I said to my daughter, just let's
Speaker 2: keep this low key. Just now, because I need to
Speaker 2: work out what my next steps are.
Speaker 1: Before she could wrap her head around this, Lindsay called again,
Speaker 1: this time with a new tactic.
Speaker 2: She phoned and she said, please, Angela, don't take this
Speaker 2: any further. And she said, look, I'll give you twenty
Speaker 2: thousand pounds, just go to the bank and close it.
Speaker 2: And I said, how long has this has been going on?
Speaker 2: And she said, oh, no, no, no, it was just
Speaker 2: that year. It was just that one year.
Speaker 1: That was it.
Speaker 2: That was it, you know, it was okay, it's okay,
Speaker 2: there's nothing else.
Speaker 1: Angela didn't believe her.
Speaker 2: As far as I was concerned. She was trying to
Speaker 2: bribe me.
Speaker 1: This wasn't slappy buckkeeping. It was theft.
Speaker 2: So then I phoned my daughter and I said, we're
Speaker 2: going to the police. I had to go to the place.
Speaker 1: They wanted to gather all the evidence they could, so
Speaker 1: they searched every page of their financial records starting with
Speaker 1: the year the charity was founded.
Speaker 2: And my two daughters went through it, highlighting everything and
Speaker 2: kind of trying to get a tally. I could have
Speaker 2: a two mo own things. I was in such a state.
Speaker 1: The bank statements revealed Lindsay had been stealing money from
Speaker 1: Rainbow Valley. For years, she had taken it bit by bit,
Speaker 1: three hundred here, two hundred there, and slowly those little
Speaker 1: numbers started adding up. In the end they discovered Lindsay
Speaker 1: stole eighty six thousand pounds, that's one hundred and sixteen
Speaker 1: thousand US dollars. The reason nobody had noticed was because
Speaker 1: Lindsay was soliciting donations straight to the Friends of Rainbow
Speaker 1: Valley account and she never reported those donations to the organization.
Speaker 1: So of course the donors thought their money was going
Speaker 1: to the charity. In reality, it was going to Lindsay's
Speaker 1: slush fund.
Speaker 2: Nobody else would know that thousand pounds ever existed, because
Speaker 2: she would be the one that would be writing a
Speaker 2: letter of things. So she was so deceitful. And these
Speaker 2: are people, this is money from people that she would know.
Speaker 1: Lindsay had robbed their downers, She'd robbed cancer patients and
Speaker 1: their families. She'd even tried to close Rainbow Valley forever.
Speaker 2: It was like a jigsaw all coming together. It was
Speaker 2: making sense why she was treating me the way she was,
Speaker 2: why she had to get rid of me, why she
Speaker 2: wanted to leave Rainbow Valley why she was gaslighting me.
Speaker 2: She had hoped that the charity would fold and all
Speaker 2: the bank accounts would be closed and it would be
Speaker 2: all gone and she would have got away with it.
Speaker 1: Angela realized her best friend of twenty years wasn't the
Speaker 1: person she thought she was.
Speaker 2: When it all came to light, I was breathed. The
Speaker 2: person I thought she was for me had died. She
Speaker 2: no longer existed, and that was extremely difficult, intense.
Speaker 1: Angela walked into the police station with hundreds of papers
Speaker 1: in hand.
Speaker 2: And I have to say the detective was so good
Speaker 2: because I was on there. I was just a wreck
Speaker 2: when you would come in, you know, I was just
Speaker 2: a blobbing wreck. And he was just very calm and
Speaker 2: kind and explained everything as he was going along. And
Speaker 2: he warned me, said this will take about two years
Speaker 2: to get to court. And I was like, no way,
Speaker 2: how can that be. He was right.
Speaker 1: It took the police a year to investigate the case.
Speaker 1: A week after Angela confronted her, Lindsay paid twenty five
Speaker 1: thou pounds into the Rainbow Valley account in an attempt
Speaker 1: to cover up what she'd done. She didn't know that
Speaker 1: Angela had already gone to the police, so.
Speaker 2: She thought she had got away with it. You know,
Speaker 2: time was passing and she was living our best life.
Speaker 2: Their son was getting married. They went away to Cyprus
Speaker 2: for this big, laffish wedding, as if there was nothing wrong.
Speaker 1: For Angela, the year of the investigation was an emotional
Speaker 1: and unsettling time. Sometimes she had to remind herself that
Speaker 1: this was really happening.
Speaker 2: I would get into a panic sometimes and think, oh
Speaker 2: my god, have we got this wrong? And I would
Speaker 2: have to go back into the office and take out
Speaker 2: all the evidence and look at him to remind me
Speaker 2: and say, no, it really happened. It really has happened.
Speaker 1: On October thirtieth, twenty twenty three, it got very real
Speaker 1: for Angela and for Lindsay.
Speaker 2: The day she was arrested. I'll never forget it as
Speaker 2: long as I live.
Speaker 12: I remember it because I was driving home from my
Speaker 12: mother's and the detective phoned me and asked me to
Speaker 12: pull in, and he said, I've brought her in for questioning.
Speaker 1: And I've charged her.
Speaker 2: And he said okay, and I said yeah, but I
Speaker 2: was shaking.
Speaker 1: She thought she'd feel a sense of justice, but really
Speaker 1: she just felt heartbreak.
Speaker 2: Bear in mind, I still loved her. Love is not
Speaker 2: like a light switch. We don't ever switch it off.
Speaker 2: I loved the bones of her. She was a fabulous friend.
Speaker 2: She was there for me and some of my darkest,
Speaker 2: darkest hours. And then I was confused. I stood and
Speaker 2: read a eulogy at Johanna's funeral. How could you do that?
Speaker 2: How could you do that?
Speaker 1: But Angela's heartbreak turned to rage when the police uncovered
Speaker 1: new information. It turned out Lindsay's fraud didn't start with
Speaker 1: Rainbow Valley. She had also stolen from the Anthony Nolan Trust,
Speaker 1: the place where Angela and Lindsay first met, and the
Speaker 1: police charged her with that fraud too.
Speaker 2: I think that was the point where I felt angry then,
Speaker 2: because I thought, you're a serial thief. And it's just
Speaker 2: left me wondering did she ever have any love for
Speaker 2: any of us? She worked for the Anthony Nolan Trust
Speaker 2: when I met her, and Joanna needed the bone marrow transplant,
Speaker 2: and I question, did she see Joanna could raise a
Speaker 2: lot of money where we just a meal ticket for her?
Speaker 2: And that hurts like hell, not because she did that
Speaker 2: to me, but because she maybe did that with Joanna.
Speaker 1: It's an unanswerable question, but they'd been friends for decades.
Speaker 1: Angela knew Lindsay and what really motivated her.
Speaker 2: Her husband's family are extremely wealthy and elderly, so he
Speaker 2: is in for a big, big, big inheritance. Personally, I
Speaker 2: just don't think it was coming quick enough to her,
Speaker 2: and her vanity and greed took over.
Speaker 1: On the day of Lindsay's sentencing hearing.
Speaker 2: The court opened and she she had to walk past us,
Speaker 2: and she stuck her head in the air, stuck her
Speaker 2: nose in the air and looked in the opposite direction.
Speaker 2: You know, she was very close. Had to walk right
Speaker 2: past me, and I recognized her. Fully that felt I
Speaker 2: didn't know.
Speaker 1: Lindsay ended up pleading guilty to two fraud charges.
Speaker 2: She knew that you get a third off your sentence,
Speaker 2: so she got four years reduced to three years. With
Speaker 2: pleading guilty.
Speaker 1: Lindsay was sentenced to three years in prison in order
Speaker 1: to repay both charities. She did make that repayment, but
Speaker 1: she only served a quarter of her sentence. But justice
Speaker 1: looks different for Angela. She wanted anesty and remorse, but
Speaker 1: that never came.
Speaker 13: I'll never ever ever get over it. I'll never understand it.
Speaker 13: I would love to sit in a room with her
Speaker 13: and just say, please be honest, tell me why, and
Speaker 13: tell me what's going through your head. I would love
Speaker 13: to have a conversation with her, not for me to
Speaker 13: call her names or to call her out on anything, but.
Speaker 2: Just to try and unjumble my brain. I missed the
Speaker 2: person I thought she was. I really do.
Speaker 1: Even though Lindsay's deception devastated Angela, she isn't willing to
Speaker 1: let it change her values.
Speaker 2: I refuse to live my life not trusting people. With
Speaker 2: what I've been through with Joanna. I know there are
Speaker 2: more good people in the world than there are bad,
Speaker 2: and that's why I hang on to I've got seven
Speaker 2: beautiful grandchildren. None of them met Joanna, but they all
Speaker 2: know her when they talk about her. When they see
Speaker 2: rein and if there's a reflection comes into the house
Speaker 2: and it's bouncing off, they'll say, oh, Auntie Joe's here.
Speaker 1: Angela lost her best friend, but she didn't lose Rainbow Valley,
Speaker 1: and her decision to bring Lindsay's crime to light in
Speaker 1: some ways has been a positive. Today, Rainbow Valley has
Speaker 1: more interest and support than ever, and Angela dreams of
Speaker 1: building a permanent center for the charity. Joanna's legacy has
Speaker 1: become part of Angela's legacy too.
Speaker 2: I want this to have longevity and be meaningful for
Speaker 2: people way after I've gone. I wanted to keep growing
Speaker 2: and flourishing and being there to help people through, you know,
Speaker 2: a very difficult period of their life.
Speaker 1: And all of our Weekly episodes with the same question,
Speaker 1: why do you want to share your story?
Speaker 2: I'm telling this story mainly because you asked. But Rainbow
Speaker 2: Valley was Joanna's dream. Lindsay tried to turn it into
Speaker 2: a nightmare, and I wanted the world to know what
Speaker 2: she had done and who she really was. But I
Speaker 2: also want people to realize that they can survive the
Speaker 2: worst times of their life. And Joanna taught me to
Speaker 2: stand tall because that's what she did. If she could
Speaker 2: do it, I've got to you know, when you have
Speaker 2: a rainbows gantee, the sun will come out eventually.
Speaker 1: On the next episode of Betrayal Weekly.
Speaker 10: Never ever did I see that coming. Ever, I truly
Speaker 10: thought I was going in to help someone else, and
Speaker 10: then I'm theen question, what do you mean I'm his wife?
Speaker 10: This isn't a crime. We weren't a crime.
Speaker 1: If you would like to reach out to the Betrayal
Speaker 1: team or want to tell us your Betrayal story, email
Speaker 1: us at Betrayalpod at gmail dot com. That's Betrayal Pod
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Speaker 1: you to all of our listeners. Betrayal is a production
Speaker 1: of Glass Podcasts, a division of Glass Entertainment Group and
Speaker 1: partnership with iHeart Podcasts. The show is executive produced by
Speaker 1: Nancy Glass and Jennifer Fason, hosted and produced by me
Speaker 1: Andrea Gunning, written and produced by Monique Leboard, also produced
Speaker 1: by Ben Fetterman. Associate producers are Kristin Mercury and Caitlin Golden.
Speaker 1: Our iHeart team is Ali Perry and Jessica Krincheck. Audio
Speaker 1: editing and mixing by Matt Delvecchio, Additional editing support from
Speaker 1: Tanner Robbins. Betrayal's theme composed by Oliver Bains. Music library
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