From: Kohlwes [kohlwesm@bunt.com]
Sent: Thursday, December 17, 1998 5:50 PM
To: Charles Hymes
Subject: chain letter hoax

I received an e-mail chain letter from a friend entitled "Slow Dance" that contained a poem and the story of a little girl dying of cancer whose dying wish was to send a chain mail letter around the world.  I was exhorted to send the message to as many people as possible because the American Cancer Society would donate $0.03 per name towards treatment and recovery costs for the little girl.  The message was sent in the name of Dr. Dennis Shields of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University.
My husband, who works with computer security issues daily, said it sounded like a hoax to him and suggested I check one of the computer hoax sites.  I did and found your site and, well, you can guess what I learned.  Except for the addition of the poem, this letter was remarkably similar to the ones listed in your site as being hoaxes.  I also checked the ACS site, and learned they were in no way affiliated with the letters.  Then I hunted up Yeshiva University and discovered there is such a person as Dr. Dennis Shields of the Albert Einstein etc.  He's a professor in the Department of Developmental & Molecular Biology.  The address is correct, as are the phone numbers.  I sent an e-mail message to Dr. Shields explaining the letter and requested a response.  
I thought I'd pass along this new twist FYI but I'm hesitant to forward it so you could see it for yourself.  However, if you're interested, I will send what was sent to me.  
Personally, I think the people perpetrating this particular version of the chain letter hoax chose a real person for those of us cynical enough to bother checking to see if he really existed so we would be reassured enough to send on the letter without bothering to check any further.  Even if this was on the level, I wouldn't send it to anyone I knew because I'm suspicious of anything that attempts to get me to do something by attempting to manipulate my emotional response.

Sincerely, 
Janet Kohlwes