Poor Amy Bruce

I just received an email about a little 7-year old girl named Amy Bruce. She has a tumor on her brain and severe lung cancer. If I will forward this email, the "Make A Wish Foundation" will donate 7 cents for every email forwarded. I have seen soooo many of these emails, so I looked it up on snopes.com and imagine my surprise when I saw that it was a hoax. This email has actually been making the rounds since 1999. Amy Bruce would now be 13 years old. Why do people make things like this up? I can't see where it serves any purpose whatsoever.