Calling all Kirstys! A schoolgirl from Tunbridge Wells in Kent is seeking people who share her name to help raise money for research into paediatric brain tumours like the one for which she is being treated.
Kirsty Waugh, who turns 12 on Monday, has already persuaded more than 10,000 Kirstys, Kirsties, Kersties and assorted other variants to plot their locations on a map that shows Kirstys can be found everywhere from Colombia to Malaysia, and even at the Rothera research station in Antarctica.
Kirsty and her father, Mat, are hoping to track down many more, to raise awareness and money for an area of cancer treatment that is widely regarded as underfunded.
“We thought: why don’t we ask people called Kirsty because they’re the best people, because it’s the best name,” she said.
Her father, a children’s author, added: “If you believe you share the same name as Kirsty, then you are very, very welcome on the map”
“We have a few Kirstens. We have Kurstie with a U, Kerstie with an E. There’s even one guy called Alan who has declared himself as a Kirsty to show his support. His name was Alan, spelled K-I-R-S-T-Y.”
The pair say other non-Kirstys are also welcome to plot themselves in solidarity, with no requirement to change their names.
Kirsty Waugh is undergoing chemotherapy to shrink a large tumour discovered in her brain in 2024, after she lost much of her vision over several weeks during her final year in primary school. Though the tumour is benign, its size and location mean it cannot be removed and it could cause significant problems if it continues to grow.
Her chemo treatment – now in its second round after an initial drug proved ineffective – is “really tough”, she said. “I feel sick and tired and out of breath. Obviously some children go through so much worse than I do and have such worse treatments.”
Kirsty added that raising funds for charity has been a welcome distraction. “By telling my story like this and by fundraising, I think it has made it easier to cope,” she said.
When looking for a new fundraising challenge last year, she thought: “Who do I want to tell about this? Who haven’t I told already? And that was Kirstys.”
After his daughter reached the limit of Kirstys among the family’s immediate friends and neighbours, Mat developed the interactive map to take the appeal global. Kirstys are not required to give money to pledge their support, and donations are welcome from everyone, whatever their name.
“When you scroll through the JustGiving page, it’s kind of comical because the donations are all from Kirstys,” he said of an appeal that has raised more than £75,000 so far. “It looks like a glitch in the matrix.”
Aside from the welcome distraction, the family feel committed to fundraising because Kirsty’s condition is relatively manageable for now, Mat added.
“We feel like we’re in a unique position to be able to tell a story about a very, very serious diagnosis, but from a position of having a fair amount of energy and the ability to carry on with normal life as it stands at the moment,” he said. “If we’re not telling that story, then it’s left to people who are in much worse situations.”
As for what’s so great about being a Kirsty? “I’ve always loved being called Kirsty because it’s not the most common name,” she said. “There are not as many of us as there were 50 years ago.
“We have found so many cool Kirstys. We’ve had a couple of pilot Kirstys, and nurses, surgeons. So many cool, interesting Kirstys.”