About three years ago, a new member of our Lung Cancer Survivors Support Community posted a message: she was taking Tarceva and wanted to discuss with fellow members everything about that cancer drug.
She titled her post, TARCEVA DIVAS AND DUDES DISCUSSION & SUPPORT. She saw a need to create a community within a community, and beginning with that modest post, she did it. She didn’t ask permission. She didn’t wait for us, or another member, to organize and lead a top-down discussion about Tarceva.
The ongoing discussion string became the place for our members to go to talk about Tarceva and next-generation lung cancer treatments.
The member became known by some as the Tarceva Diva, and for the purposes of this story, that’s what I’ll call her. This story is not specifically about Tarceva, or even about lung cancer, but instead, it’s a celebration of an unsung hero who helped thousands of people.
There have been well over 8,000 posts in less than three years’ time–about 250 posts per month–in just that series of hundreds of “Divas and Dudes” discussion strings. That’s a constant, dedicated stream of treatment insights from-the-front-lines of people worldwide affected directly by lung cancer.
“WELCOME TO TARCEVALAND!!!” she’d proclaim to a new member, or “newbie.” She could insert humor into the discussions without making light of the seriousness of members’ illnesses. The activity in the Tarceva sub-community grew so quickly that the Tarceva Diva created another discussion topic, TARCEVA SIDE EFFECT BUSTERS, which created yet another resource for members.
