A Mandurah mother-of-two has been whisked off to London for a community summit after starting a Facebook support group for people with an incurable cancer.
When Nicky Greenhalgh was diagnosed with follicular lymphoma at 32, a little-known and incurable blood cancer, she felt she could not confide in anyone that truly understood her situation.
“When I was diagnosed, a hematologist said my prognosis was ten years, which screwed with my head a little bit,” she said.
After a successful medical treatment, she would wait for the cancer to return in three to five years. This would continue for the rest of Nicky’s life.
“My whole world came crashing down. I spoke to psychologists and other people with cancer, but I couldn’t find anyone with my type [incurable].”
In December 2015 after encouragement from her husband, Nicky started a Facebook group ‘Living with Follicular Lymphoma’ to try and find others with the same diagnosis.
“Slowly people started to trickle in from all over the world,” she said. “We were all helping each other and sharing tips on lifestyle, how to handle emotions and eating well.”
Then one day, Nicky was contacted by a woman called Nicola Mendelsohn who had the disease and said she worked for Facebook and wanted to help Nicky grow the group.
“I thought it was a scam!” she said. “I googled her and found out she was the vice president of Facebook for Europe, Middle East and Africa. She’s the highest ranked Facebook employee outside America.”
With Ms Mendelsohn’s expertise in advertising and business, the group grew from about 550 members to more than 4000.
She held Facebook Q&A sessions on the group with some of the best hematologists around the world.
“We would take questions from the group before hand and have live video sessions that the group could attend and interact with these amazing specialists,” Nicky said.
“We have members in 90 different countries over the world, there are so many heartfelt stories.”
Ms Mendelsohn asked Nicky to meet her for the first time in London at the Facebook Community Summit that was broadcast live on the main Facebook page.
She was flown over and met her friend in person at the BBC Studios. “I felt so special,” she said. “It was so nice to finally meet Nicola.”
Nicky was whisked to events and interviews with Nicola and visited the Facebook headquarters, one of her dreams.
“It was exactly as I imagined,” she said. “There was someone serving donuts and a huge lolly dispenser machine!”
The trip has given Nicky a new passion for connecting people and she hopes to meet more people in WA that suffer from follicular lymphoma.
Carla Hildebrandt
Journalist at the Mandurah Mail
Journalist at the Mandurah Mail
