ALISON COMYN TALKS TO THE POWERHOUSE BEHIND THE DROGHEDA DOLLS, NATALIE KELLY
“WHEN women get together incredible things happen”.
And what happens when you get 5,500 women together? Well, just ask Natalie Kelly.
The Townrath woman is behind Drogheda Dolls, the facebook group which has been doing incredible things since she started it in January 2017, but it takes a remarkable woman to drive a movement, and she is that.
The mother of two overcame a rare and life-threatening infection as a baby that could have prevented her from being able to walk, but went on to run a marathon in 2016 for Team Carrie.
“There was kind of a big deal made when I ran it because I nearly died as a baby from osteomyelitis in my spine at three months as it was right down to my spinal cord, with three discs destroyed by infection,” says Natalie, in an almost matter-of-fact tone. “I had ribs removed and inserted in my spine to try keep it stable and then I was in a cast till I was almost a year and my parents were told I’d never walk”.
But Natalie’s determination and drive were evident even at that early age, and she bypassed crawling, to walk at 11 months!
“I had more surgery when I was 12 to insert rods and had a hip bone graft and had to recover from that too,” she explains. “I attended Crumlin hospital until I was 18, and suffer daily with pain with my back. I’ve osteoarthritis and arthritis now diagnosed at 37. I’ll never be free from it all. It’s just a matter of keeping my pain under control now as it’s gotten worse over the years so I have rhizotomies twice a year and spinal injections every three months.”
While most people would use this as an excuse to take it easy, most people aren’t Natalie!
The marathon she ran in 2016 was for a boy called John, whom she didn’t meet until a few days before the Marathon.
“I knew he’d had meningitis as a baby and has a lot of medical conditions and a single mam who needed support and didn’t know what to do, “she explains. “I wanted to raise money to get him a wheelchair, and in the end, I raised about €9,000.”
Natalie works for AIB in Dyer Street, and is mum to Faith (7) and Summer (4), and lives in Monasterboice with her husband Graham.
It was the end of 2016, when disillusioned with social media, she got the idea for Drogheda Dolls.
“When I opened the page, I was searching for somewhere that didn’t have any nastiness and something that gave people a sense of community,” says Natalie. “I thought I’d be lucky to get 100 people in on the idea but now we have 5,500 members, and we spoke about ‘ be kind’, and did little acts all the time in the last two years before the “be kind “movement after Caroline Flack.”
The distinctive photo cover of the Drogheda Dolls shows the famous ruby red shoes from the Wizard of Oz.
“I love a good red shoe plus it shows a powerful woman, which we all are and also the black and white legs are a bit quirky like me,” she says with a laugh. “But it’s of Glenda the good witch, who told Dorothy she had the “power all along “, which I think a lot of us including myself don’t realise until you go through different things in life and learn that you have the power to change and be positive.”
5,500 women is around 1,000 posts a month, 15,000 comments a month and 25,000 reactions.
“And not one bad word amongst them - I think I’ve removed three people in two years- and it’s a group where only respect and compassion is shown to all members - anything less isn’t tolerated,” she explains. “My sister Mandy and friend Kerry Black help be with admin since it’s grown so big . Kerry also came up with idea of using the ‘ tellanon” app on page so people could share problems anon with the group.”
So, what kind of posts get put on Drogheda Dolls?
“Everything and anything!” she says with a cheeky smile. “I put up a post looking for red knobs before, and everyone got a good laugh from it. But if someone is looking for a baby cot urgently, within minutes, 50 women come to the rescue – and most don’t know each other personally, they’ve only met virtually but friendships formed online and then seeping into ‘real ‘ world - local walking groups set up and even Voice of the Boyne choir was formed from the page.Last Christmas someone came on looking for Christmas dinner and the response was brilliant, loads donated food to the pick up point in the Westcourt Hotel, and we got the lady sorted plus donated to soup kitchens. We also have Q and A topics with different expert woman on certain days like skincare Sunday, weight/food, skin, babies, and this week it’s anxiety with Bairbe Kelly to talk to Dolls about Covid19 and coping with it all”.
Drogheda Dolls is a private group - women only - and you ask to be admitted, but with so many wonderful women on hand, you get the feeling that during these difficult times of isolatiom,the members may double by the end of the month. Which means even more incredible things will happen.