Inspirational Paraplegic Blogger Is a Hoax

David Rose was a deaf paraplegic with severe cerebral palsy who became an Internet sensation in recent weeks thanks to his inspirational blog posts and tweets (and retweets from the likes of Kim Kardashian). When the 24-year-old died last week—his sister posted the news on his now-defunct DaveonWheels blog—the obituary got picked up around the nation and even the world. And now it all turns out to be a hoax, reports the Huffington Post.

This skeptical blogger first exposed the ruse, and theCHIVE and BetaBeat have more details on the rise and fall of the fictional David Rose. His still-anonymous creator has apologized, saying he didn't intend to profit from the blog and never dreamed it would get the attention it did. "David was just a character, a part of my psyche," he writes, and the intent was to inspire people to live better lives. He also apologized to Virginia's Hunter Dunn, the real paraplegic whose photos he stole and passed off as David Rose. "There is no conspiracy here, just a guy with a twisted psyche who realizes he's caused a lot of damage and now needs to try to figure out how he's going to live with himself." Click for more. (More David Rose stories.)