Here's one more happy story that social media has helped make happen. A five year-old cancer patient wanted to meet rapper Nicki Minaj and acquire one of her famous pink wigs, and it looks like she is going to get her wish.
Damiyah Telemaque-Nelson has been diagnosed in October with Burkitt's lymphoma, a form of cancer. Miya, as her friends and family call her, has gone through months of chemotherapy, dialysis, spinal taps, and extended hospital stays at the Children's National Medical Center.
One day, Miya told her mother, Kadisha Telemaque, "I want to meet Nicki Minaj."
"Okay, I don't know if Mommy can do that," said Kadisha. But as a mother's love would have it, she made things happen.
With the help of her friends, she pelted Nicki Minaj's social media pages with photos and messages about Miyah, her condition and her wish. The messages caught the eye of a friend of John Wall, point guard for the Wizards. Wall, who shares mutual friends with Minaj, brought up Miyah's wish with the team's community relations staffers.
On Thursday, Miyah's family met with Wall at Verizon Center. Together Wall and Miyah came up with a short, endearing video bearing a message to Minaj. Wall prepared a script for the video, which lasted only 15 minutes, but took four takes.
Moments after the video was posted online, it was all over social media.
"I want to meet Nicki Minaj and I want one of her pink wigs," Miyah says in the video.
"What's up Nicki, my buddy Miyah has cancer, and Nicki, c'mon, help us out, help us get one of those pink wigs," Wall says, before hugging the little girl.
By Friday, Minaj had responded.
"Hi Miyah!!!!" Minaj wrote on Twitter. "Let's see what we can come up with for a pretty little princess. ;)"
Kadisha said her daughter was so happy, and eager to get her pink wig from Minaj. Kadisha herself is just so surprised that she had found a way to make her daughter's dream come true.
"I wasn't going to rest until I found a way to do it; I'm just surprised it happened so suddenly," she said.
On Monday, Miyah is set to return to the hospital for another scan and an updated prognosis.
Wall, though known for his shyness, isn't embarrassed to use his celebrity status for a good cause. He uses social media - including his Twitter which has over a million followers - to "do great things and help other people's lives."
"I had an opportunity with my celebrity status, knowing people that know people, to help this girl's dream come true," he said. "I knew [Minaj] had a caring heart, and when she had an opportunity to see it or read about it, I knew she'd reach out as soon as she could. I just thank my fans, everybody who retweeted it and reposted it, to give me the opportunity to make this girl's wish come true. And we'll try to make it happen."
On meeting Miyah and doing the video with her, he said, "I'm a shy person, I'm real quiet, but it was great. You never want to miss an opportunity to put a smile on a kid's face."
