'Photo Doggies for Anthony' Facebook page back up

A Facebook event page with more than 500,000 dog photos for Anthony Lyons, a Phoenix teenager with leukemia, disappeared Monday night. .

The problems began Monday evening when a Facebook user posted pictures of a "dead roasted dog," on the page. Not long after users reported the photo, the entire page was taken down, said Anthony Lyons, the 16-year-old with leukemia who was the beneficiary of the viral effort to collect dog photos which became a worldwide campaign.

Facebook e-mailed the family and said they are aware of the problem and are working on resolving it, said Kristen Lyons, Anthony's mom. The page was restored by late Tuesday night.

"I don't know if it was an overload of people all at once or if it was a hacker or, there was one guy posting some nasty things on there, just one and he claimed responsibility," she said.

The news meant that Lyons had to pull down the original "Photo Doggies for Anthony" page, a movement that had garnered the support of more than 900,000 people from around the world who wanted to offer support for Anthony in lieu of the therapy dogs he has grown fond of during his frequent visits to Phoenix Children's Hospital.

Once a month, the 16-year-old checks into the Phoenix Children's Hospital for treatment where he sits in silence waiting for the moment he can go home, he said.

The only time his mood improves are during visits from hospital's therapy dogs.

But the dogs don't come every day, he said.

So a family friend began a Facebook events page called "Photo Doggies for Anthony," where Lyons can look at pictures of happy dogs anytime he wants.

By New Year's Eve, more than 7,000 people had accepted "invitations" to the online event. As of Monday, more than 900,000 people joined the guest list.

In the meantime, Anthony put up another Facebook event page with the same name, "Photo Doggies for Anthony," which has already gathered more than 17,000 followers.

Anthony also created an Instagram account where he is showcasing photos from the Facebook page.

The response to the original Facebook effort left Roberta Lucero-Koron, a friend of the family who created the page, dumbfounded.

"This has gotten so viral that it is making local and soon national news," she said. "One thing I have to say is, make yourself smile too by looking at these beautiful animals that God gave us. I can't stop crying from tears of happiness."

People from around the country and as far away as Australia and Dubai posted photos of their pets, along with their names, and where they're from.

It began with pictures of dogs—huskies, pit bulls, labs, corgis, Chihuahuas and Pulis (Anthony's favorite)—but grew to include all walks of pet life including pot-bellied pigs and lizards.

An Arizona State University social media expert attributes the page's success to a winning combination of concepts that tap into human emotion.

In this case, cute animals, a sick teenager and a desire to help, combine to create a viral sensation, said Retha Hill, executive director of the new media, innovation and entrepreneurship lab at Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

"People will get involved if they think they can make a difference," she said. "We can't cure children's diseases overnight but we can make this boy smile and it has an immediate impact and outcome."