Claim: A six-year-old girl named Amanda Bundy is dying from a terminal form of cancer.
Status: Not any more.
Example: [Collected on the Internet, 1998]
Amanda Bundy is a 6-year-old girl in Greensburg Pennsylvania, the daughter of some very close friends of ours. A few weeks ago her mother was giving her a hug and felt a lump on Amanda's back. An I am asking for your prayers on her behalf. Please pray for her healing and for strength and comfort for her family. She is only six years old. Think of a six year old in your life and imagine that life being cut short. You can only imagine a fraction of the pain and fear her parents are facing. They need a miracle of God's healing so that they can watch their precious firstborn grow up. Normally I hate |
Origins: Yes, there really is an Amanda. And she did indeed confront the spectre of cancer. But, please, don't rush this request to everyone you know; the crisis is long passed. As in, it ended in March 1998.
The above prayer request was sent out on
marrow samples showed negative for cancer. The tumor was removed on
Okay, so what's the problem, you say? Less than a week after the prayer request was sent out (and long before it had begun to propagate into the hydra it's since become), the sword hanging over Amanda's head was gone. She was well, she was safe, and the crisis had passed. Meanwhile, the prayer request was traveling farther and farther as hundreds — and then thousands — of concerned netizens added Amanda to their prayers, then sent the story on to an ever-widening circle of acquaintance. By the summer of 1998 the congregations of various churches across the USA were praying for Amanda
The problem with such requests is there's no way to turn them off once the emergency is over. The continue to radiate outwards, reaching more people all the time.
Mail to the
Numerous well-wishers went to the trouble of obtaining the Bundys' home telephone number, leaving Amanda's mother to field one inquiry after another. The family has since requested they not be called. They've a busy household to be run, the company of a little girl to enjoy, and a baby to tend. Time taken to be on the phone with
Did the prayers said in Amanda's name during that first week make the difference? It's impossible to say
Barbara "save your prayers for them wot needs them" Mikkelson
Last updated: 27 March 2005