Netlore Archive: Email hoax claims the Make-A-Wish Foundation will donate 7 cents toward paying the medical bills of Kayla Wightman, supposedly a 15-year-old dying of lung cancer, each time the message is forwarded
Email example contributed by an AOL user, 24 October 2004:
Subject: this is horrible
Hi my name is Kayla Wightman. I am 15 years old, and i have a sever lung
cancer from second hand smoke. 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 everytime 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.
Comments: False. This hoax has been circulating since 1999, when the name of the child supposedly dying of lung cancer was given as "Amy Bruce." Several names have been substituted since then, the most recent of which, first sighted in October 2004, is "Kayla Wightman."
The Make-A-Wish Foundation has repeatedly stated that it does not participate in chain letter campaigns of any kind. From the Foundation's Web site:
Each day, the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America and chapters receive hundreds of inquiries regarding chain letters claiming to be associated with the Make-A-Wish Foundation. As a matter of policy, the Make-A-Wish Foundation does not conduct these types of wishes – including Internet and email requests.
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