She had met Matthew’s parents at a gathering for those who share a hurt that few can understand.

Like the Levesons, Mrs Veljanovski has a missing son. Like Matthew, Nick’s last known whereabouts were the Royal National Park.  

“I’ve been watching them [the Levesons] closely,” said Mrs Veljanovski, who followed the discovery, earlier this month, of bones presumed to be Matthew’s. “My heart goes out to them.” 

On Sunday Mrs Veljanovski and her family marked the third anniversary of Nick’s disappearance. 

He went into the bush at Bundeena after a serious argument with his girlfriend the afternoon of June 11, 2014. He told his girlfriend he would be home soon, then the phone went dead. 

Mrs Veljanovski has since been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. It has returned despite a major operation in December, and she is undergoing chemotherapy again.

But still she does her best for Nick, pausing to go through albums of his pictures on his birthday, in August, overseeing her family’s efforts to share missing person posters and drive traffic to his online page, and dutifully phoning the newspapers for anniversary stories that might yet jog someone’s memory of seeing her red-headed son.

“What do you do,” she said. “You have to wake up every day and hope and pray that today’s that day that he walks through that front door, or just picks up the phone to say, ‘hi, I’m OK’.” 

An appeal last year prompted two leads. Police were able to find CCTV footage of one reported sighting, at Mascot Railway Station, but it wasn’t Nick. 

Mr Veljanovski hopes people will share the @nickcomehome Facebook page, and that some will print and post Nick’s poster.

Nick could yet see it, she hopes. He could read for himself how much he is missed.

“You’re always in our thoughts and forever in our hearts,” Mrs Veljanovski said. 

“We hope and pray for your safe return soon, and we love you.”