From patient to philanthropist

By the age of 7, Gauri already had lofty aspirations for her future. “I’m going to cure cancer one day,” she’d repeatedly tell her family.

“I wanted to become a doctor and cure cancer,” Gauri recalls. “That was just my thing. It was always in the back of my mind. I just thought it was so cool.”

Gauri didn’t know then that, at age 10, she would have first-hand experience with cancer from the patient side. But, after waking up with swollen eyelids and several doctor’s visits, Gauri received a leukemia diagnosis. She started treatment immediately and underwent six rounds of extensive chemotherapy. After each session, she spent 40 days in the hospital with a one-week break between.

Although treatment worked, the risk of cancer recurrence prompted Gauri and her parents, Jayasree and Jay, to opt for her to receive a bone marrow transplant. The transplant was accompanied by another round of more aggressive chemotherapy with 6 months of hospitalization.

"The biggest thing that frightened me was not knowing what was going to happen to me," says Gauri of that experience. "My medical team really helped me. They were so sweet, and because of them, the process was definitely smoother than you'd expect."

Gauri experienced waves of negative side effects from the chemotherapy. Ulcers developed in her mouth and throat, making it extremely painful to swallow, forcing her to eat from a feeding tube. Additionally, she faced challenges such as nausea and graft-versus-host disease post-bone marrow transplant. Fortunately, her body accepted the transplant after a few weeks, and she began the slow process of recovery. 

After two strenuous years of treatment, at age 13, Gauri was cancer-free and was able to go back to her life and return to school.

Shortly after, Gauri learned from her care team that she qualified for a wish. Then, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, which meant most wish options were put on hold. This gave Gauri the opportunity to thoroughly explore what she wanted to wish for. Reflecting on her treatment experience, Gauri thought about how she found the strength to get through it.

"The doctors, nurses, and the childcare specialist would help explain everything to me before it happened with every procedure,” she says. “It helped me not be scared."

Gauri decided to use her wish to help provide that same sense of awareness and security for other children battling cancer. She wished to give back to her pediatric oncology unit at Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara.

Gauri worked with her volunteer wish granters; wish planner Ana Maria Vallarino, and Kaiser Permanente Child Life Specialist Wendy Celaya to determine options. After months of brainstorming over Zoom calls, Gauri felt confident in the scope and impact of her wish.

Gauri chose to provide the oncology unit with educational toys and children's books to teach their pediatric cancer patients about their illnesses.

“I wanted to help minimize that fear for other kids going through similar situations,” says Gauri. “I think being able to learn ahead of time through something they can understand, like educational play, can help them feel a little bit less stressed like it did for me.”

Gauri and the Kaiser team selected children's books about cancer and toys resembling medical devices, such as miniature IV poles and toy ports. They also included doodle pads and tablets to provide the children with a creative outlet and distraction.

"We help our pediatric patients prepare for a procedure," says Celaya. "These children are going through medical procedures, and we are here to help explain in a way that they can understand and help them cope. We honestly couldn't do our jobs without these items Gauri provided us, and we are so thankful."