Nismo Same

NISMO same is a non-profit organisation and a virtual project specialized in providing support and information to women diagnosed with cancer. The original idea to establish to launch the project came from Ivana Kalogjera, a long time journalist, who survived breast cancer. The feeling of isolation, lack of information and understanding, loneliness and confusion that she was feeling before and during the treatment, motivated Ivana to do something to raise the community's awareness on what the person suffering from cancer goes through physically and mentally. Notion that they are not alone in their disease plays important role in women’s recovery and NISMO same, as an online community, hopes to reassure women in that. The specificity of NISMO same with respect to other support organisations is that it focuses on survivors’ experiences, both good and bad ones, which it publishes online creating a virtual support community. By publishing true, personal and often highly emotional stories, NISMO same puts individual’s experiences under the spotlight. Simultaneously this helps demystify the illness and taboos that in our region usually accompany female cancer survivors (i.e. women that undergo a mastectomy are often perceived “damaged” by the community); and secures a unique online resource of information and comfort for everyone in need. In Croatia, but also in the region, before NISMO same an internet resource of that kind did not exist. The website traffic data corroborates the claim that a virtual place like NISMO same was needed regionally. In the first 5 months, with only sporadic advertising, more than 35 individuals visited the page contributing to more than 133 page views. The webpage has approximately active monthly users. While majority of visitors come from Croatia, the page registers increasing number of visits from neighboring countries, most notably Bosnia, Serbia and Slovenia. This proves the regional importance of the project.