New Berlin Girl Makes People Magazine 'Girls Changing The World'

NEW BERLIN, WI — A 12-year-old New Berlin Girl was recently selected as one of People Magazine's 'Girls Changing the World in 2021.'

Naudia Greenawalt earned the magazine's honor for helping her friend, Linkin Eger, through chemotherapy by writing a book about his experience, People Magazine wrote.

The list, published in honor of International Day of the Girl, celebrates girls who have made a difference in their community, the publication said.

For Greenawalt, it all started in 2017 when she started to follow her friend's journey with cancer. Linkin Eger, Greenawalt's friend, needed chemotherapy for a brain tumor in 2017, People Magazine wrote.

The journey culminated in a book called My Friend Linkin, and it has since continued with the formation of a non-profit, according to the My Friend Linkin website.

Greenawalt told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel she almost didn't believe the news of her People Magazine feature when she first heard.

For the book that earned her spot on the list, Greenawalt interviewed Eger, his family, and even his doctors about the disease throughout his treatment. Several interviews later, and Greenawalt's notes and interviews were compiled into a book, My Friend Linkin.

"I started My Friend Linkin because I wanted to bring joy to Linkin and help his family pay medical bills," Greenawalt said in a video on her website. "Some parts can be very scary, some parts can be sad, but the most important thing is to just have really good friends."

After My Friend Linkin was published, a nonprofit organization under the same name was formed. The organization seeks to teach and inspire children about childhood cancer, according to its website. Several other books telling similar stories of kids with cancer have since been published.