Did the aunt of a 7-month-old baby recently post a prayer request after the baby, Olivia, had open-heart surgery? No, that's not true: While this prayer request was originally posted by Olivia's aunt on October 11, 2017, this post is no longer current and is now being circulated by people who are not her aunt.
The prayer request and photo were originally posted on October 11, 2017, by Crystal Green and edited to add a link to a gofundme several days later. The photo and text from the original post without the gofundme link resurfaced in 2021, such as this post published on Facebook on July 10, 2021. The caption of the post reads:
All my Facebook friends and family I never ask for much but tonight I really need a favor.. my niece Olivia is 7 months old she had open heart surgery and isn't doing well so can you all please pray for her... please $hare her picture in hopes of as many prayers as she can get and for her recoveryPrayer Request from Crystal Green#gratefulchallenge please pray for this baby and the family
This is what the post looked like on Facebook on September 7, 2021:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Tue Sep 7 14:07:56 2021 UTC)
Lead Stories reached out by telephone to Olivia's grandmother on September 7, 2021, who we are not naming for the privacy of the family. She conveyed that Olivia is very much loved, is 4½ years old, requires 24-hour care and may need to have more heart surgery in the future.
Lead Stories has written about the misuse of prayer requests and photos of hospitalized children for social media engagement in the past, (here and here).
