Missouri woman mistakenly declared dead in 2007 still trying to prove she's alive
Sixteen years ago, Madeline-Michelle Carthen was preparing for a summer internship in Ghana after she was accepted into Webster University's intern exchange program when she received shocking news: her social security number was associated with a deceased person.
Sixteen years ago, Madeline-Michelle Carthen was preparing for a summer internship in Ghana after she was accepted into Webster University's intern exchange program when she received shocking news: her social security number was associated with a deceased person.
"I laughed," Carthen, from St. Louis, Missouri, said in a phone call on Tuesday, initially dismissing it as a simple mistake. "I said, ‘What do you mean? I’m sitting right here. I’ve been at school over a year and a half. … How am I dead? Is this going to affect my international internship?’"
The mistake wasn't a simple fix and cost Carthen, now 52, her livelihood. She had to withdraw from school and over the years has been fired from jobs and kicked out of her home: all because on paper it says she died in 2007.
"I just know I'm alive. I don't care what A.I. says or software says, but I'm alive," she said. "But it's hard to prove that."
Carthen's world began to unravel in the summer of 2007. The business technology student and mother to a 13-year-old had been accepted into Webster's International Business Intern Exchange Program, giving her the opportunity to travel abroad.
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