Mother of child who died angry anti-vaccine page used girl’s image on Facebook

May 14, 2019 | 11:04 AM

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — The mother of a young Newfoundland girl who died last summer is furious her daughter’s altered image was used online as part of an anti-vaccination campaign.

She has screenshots showing someone posted on a Facebook page an image of Nevaeh Denine’s face, with text claiming her death was related to vaccines.

The girl, who was diagnosed with neuroblastoma at an early age, was well known in Newfoundland and Labrador for starting a lemonade stand to raise money for children with cancer.

Holly Denine learned about the falsified image of her daughter late last week and urged friends and family to do all they could to eliminate it and prevent it from being shared on social media.

Denine says her daughter used social media to raise thousands of dollars for sick children before her death last August, shortly after she turned nine.

She says she had worried that someone might exploit her daughter’s photo to raise money.

“I always feared it would be used for GoFundMe or something like that,” she said. “So this really took me off guard.”

Denine said vaccination can be essential, especially for children whose immune systems are weakened, and she says she’s angry her child was used to spread false information about vaccines.

A spokesperson for Facebook said in an email the social media company is looking into the incident.

The Canadian Press


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