Craig Shergold is a British former cancer

Cancer

Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

 patient who is most famous for receiving over 35 million greeting card

Greeting card

A greeting card is an illustrated, folded card featuring an expression of friendship or other sentiment. Although greeting cards are usually given on special occasions such as birthdays, Christmas or other holidays, they are also sent to convey thanks or express other feeling. Greeting cards,...

s, earning him a place in the Guinness Book of Records. Variations of the plea for greeting cards sent out on his behalf in 1989 are still being distributed through the Internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

, making the plea one of the most persistent urban legend

Urban legend

An urban legend, urban myth, urban tale, or contemporary legend, is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories that may or may not have been believed by their tellers to be true...

s.

In 1989, Shergold, then aged nine, was diagnosed with what was thought to be terminal

Terminal illness

Terminal illness is a medical term popularized in the 20th century to describe a disease that cannot be cured or adequately treated and that is reasonably expected to result in the death of the patient within a short period of time. This term is more commonly used for progressive diseases such as...

 brain cancer. His family

Family

In human context, a family is a group of people affiliated by consanguinity, affinity, or co-residence. In most societies it is the principal institution for the socialization of children...

 issued a chain letter

Chain letter

A typical chain letter consists of a message that attempts to the recipient to make a number of copies of the letter and then pass them on to as many recipients as possible...

, requesting that greeting cards be sent to Shergold so that he could make it into the Book of Records. They neglected to put a time limit on the appeal and as a result, 19 million greeting cards were sent by the next year, and 35 million by the end of 1991. American businessman John Kluge learned of Shergold’s plight, and arranged for him to have brain surgery

Surgery

Surgery is an ancient medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, or to help improve bodily function or appearance.An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical...

 to remove the tumor, an operation that was successful.

Nonetheless, the chain letter continued to make its way around the Internet and millions of greeting cards continued to flow to Shergold’s home. The family halted mail

Mail

Mail, or post, is a system for transporting letters and other tangible objects: written documents, typically enclosed in envelopes, and also small packages are delivered to destinations around the world. Anything sent through the postal system is called mail or post.In principle, a postal service...

 delivery, and later moved. The home was given its own postal code

Postal code

A postal code is a series of letters and/or digits appended to a postal address for the purpose of sorting mail. Once postal codes were introduced, other applications became possible.In February 2005, 117 of the 190 member countries of the Universal Postal Union had postal code systems...

 because of the volume of mail sent there. Mail being sent to that address is now being recycled

Recycling

Recycling is processing used materials into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution and water pollution by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower greenhouse...

. The Book of Records has retired this record as they do not want anyone to try to top Shergold’s feat.

Over the years, the chain letter has undergone many permutations. Shergold’s name has been changed to variations as “Craig Shelford” or “Greg Sherwood” or even "Daring Herold" or "Arnold". The latter name is used in a Polish mutation that requests for the chain letter to be sent to as many institutions as possible, as well as to a "Frau Yelken" from Germany, instead of being sent to Shergold. The request item also changed over time, from greeting cards to business card

Business card

Business cards are cards bearing business information about a company or individual. They are shared during formal introductions as a convenience and a memory aid. A business card typically includes the giver's name, company affiliation and contact information such as street addresses, telephone...

s.

Shergold's mother, Marion, wrote a book about Craig's story - "Craig Shergold : A Mother's Story"

In 2001, the PAX

I (TV network)

Ion Television is a United States broadcast television network. Owned by ION Media Networks, the networked commenced broadcasting on August 31, 1998 as PAX TV, a named it used until July 1, 2005, when it became i: Independent Television; the network was rechristened Ion on January 29, 2007...

 cable channel showed The Miracle of the Cards, a made-for-TV movie

Television movie

A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...

 starring Thomas Sangster

Thomas Sangster

Thomas Brodie Sangster is an English film and television actor, best known for his roles in Love Actually, Nanny McPhee, The Last Legion, and voice of Ferb Fletcher in Phineas and Ferb.-Personal life:...

as Shergold.

Craig is now a healthy adult and requests for the mail to stop; any mail that is received is forwarded to a recycling center..