Outline Message circulating via social media asks recipients to offer prayers for the recovery of five year old Diego Mendez. According to the message, the child is in intensive care after a TV fell on his head.
Brief Analysis
The accident described in the message so far remains unsubstantiated. It is currently unclear if the message describes a real case or is just another in a long list of foolish "prayer request" hoaxes.
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Last updated: 25th August 2011
First published: 25th August 2011
Article written by Brett M. Christensen About Brett Christensen and Hoax-Slayer
Example
ATTENTION ALL MY FRIENDS.
TODAY I NEED YOU. I NEED TO SEE THIS MESSAGE ON YOUR WALLS!!! URGENT!!! I"M ASKING FOR A PRAYER FOR DIEGO MENDEZ (5 YEARS OLD), A TV FELL ON HIS LITTLE HEAD AND HE'S IN INTENSIVE CARE. PLEASE POST THIS ON YOUR WALL FOR AT LEAST AN HOUR; I WOULD DO IT FOR YOUR SON. LET'S GO FOR A MIRACLE.
URGENT S UN PEDIDO D ORACIÓN DIEGO MENDEZ D 5 AñOS, L CAYO UN TELEVISOR N SU CABECITA, Y STA N TERAPIA INTENSIVA, RT,VAMOS POR UN MILAGRO!!!
Detailed Analysis
This message, which is circulating very rapidly via Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites, asks users to offer prayers for the recovery of a five year old boy named Diego Mendez. According to the message, Diego is currently in Intensive Care after a television fell on his head. The message requests that recipients pass on the information to other users in a combined effort to "go for a miracle".
However, at this point I am yet to find any credible information about a TV related injury involving a child named Diego Mendez. It appears that the message began circulating in Spanish and was later translated into an English version. So far, it is unclear if the message describes a real case or is just one more in a long line of hoaxes that ask people to pray for non-existent people.
The message contains no information about where or when the accident occurred. Nor does it offer any way of checking the current status of the child or even if the child actually exists.
In any case, reposting vague prayer requests for people that you have never met, have no connection with, and know nothing whatsoever about seems pointless and rather silly. Given the amount of sick or injured people in the world at any one time, it would seem much more reasonable to offer support for people in need within our own communities rather than reposting vague and unsubstantiated support requests for people we have absolutely no connection with.
