Pray for 15 year old Amanda-Fiction!

Pray for 15-year-old Amanda-Fiction!

Summary of the eRumor This eRumor includes a message from a 15-year-old girl named Amanda and another message from her mother. It says that Amanda is suffering from a mysterious degenerative medical condition and wants people to pray for her and let her know they are praying. She says the Make-A-Wish Foundation is sending her and her family to Hawaii.


The Truth There are several things about the email that don't ring true. It says that the girl has an "undiagnosed" condition. Anyone who has a girl with health issues as serious as described would probably not misuse the word "diagnosed." If she's got a "neuromuscular degenerative disease," that's a diagnosis even though the cause of it or the prognosis may be uncertain. The story avoids the kind of details that a mother would normally include in a narrative about a seriously ill child. We checked with the Make-A-Wish Foundation and they said they didn't know anything about this story. Last updated 3/11/04
A real example of the eRumor as it has appeared on the Internet:
This letter is from my daughter Amanda. Amanda has an undiagnosed neuromuscular degenerative disease that has drastically changed her life. Among other things, she is losing her eyesight, her muscles are weakening, she wears braces on her legs now, she has severe tremors in her hands, she is losing her bladder control, her IQ has dropped drastically over the past few years (she is 15 and has the mind set of an 8 year old now) and she just keeps getting worse. Amanda wanted to send out and email asking people to pray for her. She believes very strongly in the power of prayer. She is very devoted to the Lord and "wants to be a missionary when she grows up." She wants to see how many people she can get to pray for her. If you read this and say a prayer for her, please email her back and tell her. It will mean a lot to her! Thank you! Amandas mom Hello, My name is Amanda. I have a disease that is making my eyesight go away and is making my muscles get weak. I have a lot of other things wrong too but the doctors dont know what is wrong. So they cant cure it. I want everybody to start praying for me to get better. Being sick is not fun because I cant do the things I used to do like ride my bicycle and play outside. I spend most of my time in my room. I dont go to school anymore because it got too hard. My favorite things to do is go to church, study my bible and play with my dolls. My bible has taught me that Jesus is always with me and he is the only one that can cure me. So I was thinking that if I tell people about me and what is happening to me and ask them to pray for me then maybe God will show the doctors what is wrong and they will cure me! I am going to Hawaii next week. The make a wish foundation is sending me and my family there. I would like you to pray for my trip to be safe too. Please send this email to all of the people you know! Then ask them to send it to the people they know so that the whole world will be praying for me! Then I know that I will be cured! Thank you! Love Amanda p.s...after you pray for me will you email me and let me know? prayforme2004@aol.com