Meet 2019 Scholar Isha

Our College Scholars receive a financial scholarship to help with academic expenses, and each scholar commits to undertaking a volunteer project of their choosing related to childhood cancer advocacy, with support and mentorship from the Children's Cancer Cause team.

“After surviving cancer, it’s not easy to integrate yourself back into society, especially when you’re trying to discover your identity. That’s why you need someone who’s done it before or is doing it with you.”

Isha’s Story

Isha was diagnosed with leukemia in 7th grade. Middle school is hard for everyone but it’s especially challenging when you’re singled out with a cancer diagnosis, as Isha discovered: “Cancer creates an impenetrable bubble of loneliness that friends and family - while invaluable - can’t get through because only other cancer patients can understand. But I didn’t know anyone else with cancer. The only other patients at my clinic were babies and toddlers, the most common age group for acute lymphoblastic leukemia.”

“No one was quite sure how to treat the ‘cancer kid.’ Even when I was surrounded by people, I felt isolated,” she said.

Isha threw herself into school and volunteer work, amassing an impressive academic and extracurricular resume. She’s taken courses in DNA and has a research-based internship under her belt. She graduated from the University of Virginia and is now a software engineer.

Isha’s Advocacy Project

To combat social isolation faced by pre-teens and teens with cancer, Isha launched an online community for 10-18 year old patients and survivors called the Childhood Cancer Companion Program. This website - launched in the fall of 2019 - includes a mentorship program, discussion boards, and resources.

“Doctors and nurses are more than capable of taking care of a patient’s physical health, but this program aims to benefit a patient’s mental health, creating solutions for kids who already have enough on their plate,” explains Isha. “The program is intended to last for the long-term. If you start off as a cancer patient in the program, you can come back in the future as a mentor.”