Girl, 12, Is Looking for All the 'Kirstys' in the World

If your name is Kirsty, a 12-year-old in England is looking for you. As she undergoes chemotherapy for a large, inoperable but benign brain tumor, Kirsty Waugh has turned her attention to a global fundraising challenge for children's brain tumor research—by rallying people who share her name, reports the Guardian. With help from her father, she created a website where other Kirstys (and Kirsties, Kersties, and Kurstys—all variations welcome) can identify themselves and plot their location on an interactive map. A whopping 10,417 have done so, with dots stretching from Barbados to Japan to an Antarctic research station.

"We thought: why don't we ask people called Kirsty because they're the best people, because it's the best name," she tells the Guardian. The JustGiving page tied to the map has pulled in roughly $105,000 (the list of donors is chock full of people named Kirsty, Kirsten, Kirsteen, Kirstie, etc.), and while Kirstys are the focus, anyone can add themselves to the map as a "friend" and donate. "By telling my story like this and by fundraising, I think it has made it easier to cope," Kirsty says.