Silent Killer Nanogirl's Life-Saving Crusade

The New Zealand-based Science Educator Explains Why Time Is Precious to Her

- Ciara Pratt

Michelle Dickinson is a very busy woman. With her alter-ego and social enterprise Nanogirl, she travels the country teaching children about science and the possibilities it brings. The engineer and nanotechnologist has also written best-selling cookbook Kitchen Science, and she travels the world speaking about technology and science.

As Michelle (39) sits down to chat to the Weekly, it seems she has a lot on her plate, but there’s a very personal reason why she lives her life to the full.

“People ask me, ’Why are you always in a rush?’ And I say because time is so precious! I think when you have a parent who dies relatively young, you don’t think you’ll live until 80. For me, I’ve said if I live to 53, that’s a bonus, so I focus on how much I can do between now and then.”

Michelle’s father Ian was 53 when he died a few months after being diagnosed with oesophagus cancer, which is part of the gut cancer family that also includes bowel, stomach and pancreatic cancer. That’s why Michelle is throwing her weight behind the Gut Cancer Foundation’s National Crunch Day on May 31.

The concerning thing, she says, is that the number of people developing these cancers is on the rise. “Gut cancer kills the most Kiwis and it’s a silent one no-one seems to talk about.

“We could save so many lives if people were aware of some of the symptoms and the risk factors.”