Make-A-Wish Hoax
Summary: The Make-A-Wish Foundation will grant a wish to a dying child in exchange for forwarding emails.
Circulation: Variations since c. 1999
Status: Hoax
The Debunking
Each day, someone somewhere forwards another email in the hopes that the recipient will have a heart, care about the unfortunate and forward the email on to others. While this may be a laudable goal in theory, the reality of the cyber-world is that very few, if any of these emails are true. Read that again. They are hoaxes.
Such is the case with the Make-A-Wish emails circulating. No matter the name attached, the truth is that there is no Amy Bruce, Jessie Anderson, Shane Bernier, Matt Dawson, Chad Briody, Jeff DeLeon, Rhyan Desquetado, Anthony Hebrank, LaNisha Jackson, Nikisha Johnson, Craig Sheldon, Craig Shelford, Craig Shelton, Craig Sheppard, Craig Shergold, Bryan Warner or Kayla Wightman. The Make-A-Wish Foundation is not going to contribute money for forwarded emails.
But how do you know? Here's my way of thinking: Stop and ask yourself how this email is going to be tracked: There's no program attached (see my AOL/Intel Hoax for more on programs) that will track your message. There is no forward to the Foundation so that they can track it. There's no magical copy of your name floating around somewhere that the psychics at Make-A-Wish can credit you.
"But you never know. It's better to be safe than sorry." Yeah, right. It took me all of .03 seconds to find out it's fake. Do you mean to tell me that you can't take that much time to look it up? You just have to forward the email instead of finding out if it's true? It's better to do the research and discard the hoaxes than to "forward just in case..."
While I don't fault the person who forwards with good intentions, I still have to wonder why people continue to believe something simply because it arrived in their inbox. Please, please take a moment to do a bit of research before you forward any email.
From the Make-A-Wish website:
Each day, the Make-A-Wish Foundation and its chapters receive hundreds of inquiries about chain letters claiming to be associated with the Foundation and featuring sick children. However, we do not participate in these kinds of wishes. Some names associated with these wishes are: Jessie Anderson, Shane Bernier, Matt Dawson, Chad Briody , Amy Bruce, Jeff DeLeon, Rhyan Desquetado, Anthony Hebrank, LaNisha Jackson, Nikisha Johnson, Craig Sheldon, Craig Shelford, Craig Shelton, Craig Sheppard, Craig Shergold, Bryan Warner and Kayla Wightman.
If you receive a chain letter claiming ties to the Foundation, please:
- Inform the sender that the Foundation does not participate in chain letter wishes.
- Refer the sender and all recipients to this page.
- Do not forward the chain letter.
- Refer senders to ways they can help the Foundation, such as referring a child, making a donation, donating their time & talents, or donating treasures
Only one of these requests is based in fact: In 1989, a then 9-year-old boy named Craig Shergold wanted to be recorded in the "Guinness Book of World Records" for receiving the most greeting cards. His wish was fulfilled in 1990 by another wish-granting organization not associated with the Make-A-Wish Foundation. He received more than 16 million cards. Craig is now a healthy adult, and he has requested an end to the mail. Mail that is received is forwarded to a recycling center.
The time and expense required to respond to these inquiries distracts the Foundation from its efforts on behalf of children with life-threatening medical conditions, and more importantly, can divulge information that is potentially harmful to a child and his or her family."
Original Text
Hi, my name is Amy Bruce.
I am 7 years old, and I have severe lung cancer . I also have a large tumor in my brain, from repeated beatings. Doctors say I will die soon if! this isn't fixed, and my family can't pay the bills.
The Make A Wish Foundation, has agreed to donate 7 cents for every time this message is sent on.
For those of you who send this along, I thank you so much, but for those who don't send it, what goes around comes around. Have a Heart, please send this.
Please, if you are a kind person, send this on. PLEASE HIT FORWARD BUTTON NOT REPLY BUTTON.
YOUR'S FAITHFULLY,
AMY BRUCE
amy.bruce@makeawish.com (non-valid address)
(Note: Some versions come with the above photo attached. No one knows just who the girl really is, but it's not Amy Bruce)