Outline Viral message asks recipients to pray for the recovery of a 22 month old who accidentally shot himself in the chest with a brad nailer.
Brief Analysis
I have not yet verified the claims in this message. Some references suggest that the accident took place in Champaign, Illinois in late July 2010 and involved a baby named Hayden. There are a number of versions of the message that list different names for the mother of the injured child.
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Last updated: 12th August 2010
First published: 12th August 2010
Article written by Brett M. Christensen About Brett Christensen and Hoax-Slayer
Example
URGENT PRAYER REQUEST: Posting for a FB friend of a friend: 22 month old son shot himself in the chest with a brad nailer, it went in his heart, he is in critical condition not doing good, neither is mom~ please start a prayer chain. Please copy and repost and pray for them. Thank you!
Reposting for a friend...Kayala Scott's 22 month old son accidentally shot himself in the chest with a brad nailer. It went into his heart. He is now in critical condition and not doing well. Neither is his mom. Please, start a prayer chain for this baby!! Please copy and .........repost...you would want someone to do this...... for you!
Passing along this prayer request... Please pray for Cheryl Dewitts' 22 month old son, he shot himself in the chest with a brad nailer. It went in his heart, he is in critical condition and not doing well, neither is his mom, please start a prayer chain. Please copy and repost... Please pray... what if it was your child?
Detailed Analysis
A message that asks for prayers for a severely injured baby who shot himself with a nail gun is currently circulating via Facebook, online forums and other social networking websites. According to the message, the 22 month old boy accidentally shot himself in the heart with a brad nailer and is currently in a critical condition. The message asks recipients to "start a prayer chain" by reposting the plea to others.
The message contains no information about where or when the accident took place. Moreover, there are now several versions of the message circulating, all of which state different names for the child's mother. All of the following names have been used in various versions of the prayer request:
Kayala Scott
Cheryl Dewitt
Tammi Iacona
Janet James
Terri Maczko
Kay Hutson Bedenbaugh
Teresa Lynch
Deedee Parsons Simpson
At least some of these names are likely to be the names of people that have done nothing more than reposted the message and have no direct connection to the child. It is not uncommon for such mistakes to occur when message are rapidly and widely circulated around cyberspace. And, in fact, some earlier versions of the message do not list any name at all.
Whatever the cause, the use of several different names has created a lot of confusion and has led many recipients to believe that the message is a hoax. So far, I have not been able to conclusively verify if the accident described in these messages actually occurred. That said, a person claiming to be the father of the injured baby has posted details about the accident on the PRAY-ers forum. According to these posts, the baby's name is Hayden and the accident occurred on 29th July. The posts note that Hayden is recovering well and was treated at the Carle Clinic and Foundation Hospital in Champaign, Illinois. And another post published on the BabyCenter Community forum also describes Hayden's accident and includes a photograph of the heavily bandaged child.
My enquiries are ongoing and I will update this article with further information as soon as possible.
