False Internet rumor leads to flood of cards for NY boy, 4, who has leukemia, but isn’t dying

False rumor starts flood of cards for NY boy, 4

MEXICO, N.Y. — Jacob Hadcock has leukemia, but his parents say the 4-year-old New York boy isn’t dying.

An e-mail erroneously claims that Jacob is facing his last Christmas, resulting in a flood of holiday cards.

Amie and Ron Hadcock say they don’t know who wrote the e-mail or how anyone got the idea that Jacob is terminally ill. The parents say their son is being treated for leukemia but is doing fine.

The e-mail has spawned YouTube videos, a Facebook group, radio DJ chatter and numerous Web posts.

The Christmas cards keep coming from all over the world. More than 25,000 are piled up in the family’s home in the town of Mexico, 30 miles north of Syracuse.

Some cards contain money. The Hadcocks say they’ll use it to buy gifts for sick children at a Syracuse hospital.

Information from: The Post-Standard, www.syracuse.com