A local woman says before you judge Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te?o, you should know it?s a lot easier than you might think to get sucked into one of these fake online relationships.
Christina Stokes thought she developed a friendship with a teenager diagnosed with cancer. Turns out, the girl wasn?t who she thought it was.
She has battled leukemia four times in the last three years. Throughout that time, she?s made life-long relationships with cancer survivors on support boards on Facebook. She never imagined one of those friends from Kentucky was a hoax.
?When you?re recovering from the treatments with leukemia, there?s a lot of isolation,? said Stokes. ?Anybody that comes to see you, they can?t touch you, they have mask and gloves. You spend a lot of time alone so you really bond with the people online.?
After Stokes? cancer relapsed for the first time, she decided to go online to look for some support and some inspiration.
?All day long, that?s what I do,? she said. ?I talk to them and encourage them and they encourage me.?
Christina found a source of strength among the hundreds posting on leukemia support boards. She even met her donor in a page for bone marrow transplant patients. It was around that time when she met a 17-year-old teenager from Kentucky, who claimed she was battling the same cancer, acute myelogenous leukemia.
?She had all of us friend her boyfriend so her boyfriend could stay in touch with us because she was put on life support, kidney failure, heart failure, it was really massive stuff.?
However, after a year of chatting online and on the phone, Stokes began to see red flags. She showed us photos of the teenager?s tubes that were pasted on instead of in her chest, to ones of the teenager getting her head shaved, none of them showing her face.
?All of them, you can?t tell if it?s her or not, no matter what she did,? said Stokes.
Then, Christina saw one picture of the girl with a photoshopped shaved head. Stokes knew it was all a lie.
?We knew that it wasn?t real because of the shadow. I?ve lost my hair and grown it out four times now,? she said. ?At first, I just cried because I was just so hurt. More than anything, it was just hurt and disappointment. Then it kind of made you wonder, are all these other people I?m building relationship real??
Christina finally confronted the girl?s mother, who said it was not the first time her daughter has posed as a cancer patient.
?I mean I believed her. I was trying to get to Kentucky when they put her on life support,? said Stokes.
Since then, Christina has blocked the teenager on Facebook and is only on two support boards now. Christina is also in remission for the fourth time, which is why she plans to keep logging-on to lift spirits up ? but not without keeping her guard up.
?I don?t think that?s why people who fake it realize what they do to the heart and soul of people out there fighting this.?
Christina recommends if you do plan on talking to anyone online, make sure to do a little bit more research. Here are things you should do:
- Friend and talk to that person?s friends.
- Skype or video chat with them ? that way you know where they?re at in real time and you can have that face-to-face connection
- Don?t send any money if you plan on sending any gifts
Source: http://fox59.com/2013/01/17/local-woman-shares-how-teen-faked-cancer-fooled-many-online/
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