Camas students give comfort to women with cancer

Roshni Madugula hit rock bottom in the sixth grade when her grandmother died of breast cancer. After watching her battle the disease for seven years, she was overwhelmed by grief but knew she wanted to make a difference.

“She could have benefited from just little tokens of kindness, encouragement, and it kind of hit me really deep,” Madugula said. “After she passed away, that’s something that really stayed with me. I want to make sure that no other kids like me had this similar experience of not being able to give back to someone they care about.”

The 15-year-old Camas High School student had a light-bulb moment in April when she decided to use her personal experience to create Comfort4Cancer, a student-led organization and school club dedicated to providing encouragement to women undergoing cancer treatment. So far, the group comprised of Madugula and 22 other students has raised $1,000 to help pay for items such as blankets, hats, socks, lip balms and other products, which are then donated to the Ovarian Cancer Alliance of Oregon and Southwest Washington. They also have written cards for patients at Oregon Health & Science University’s Knight Cancer Institute, the only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center near Clark County.

“I didn’t know what else to do until I realized I had a community that I could potentially build,” Madugula said. “Now, I’m kind of shooting for the stars.”

She describes how her grandmother, Sesha Money Madugula, often would feel alone during chemotherapy and other dark moments, even though she was a “fighter.”

“When she could barely move, she still tried to do as much as she could,” Madugula said. “She’d still try to make us food all the time. I was always with her, so we were helping each other out.”

Madugula credits the support of her two sisters and the student leaders of the club — Srijani Gireddy, Brittan Fine, Abigail Lim and Soyun Kim — for the impact the organization has had so far.

Madugula’s goal is to expand the organization’s partnership with local hospitals, especially in Washington, which is among the states with the highest rates of breast cancer diagnoses, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control.

In 2023, 6,902 cases of breast cancer in Washington were reported to the CDC, outpacing the rates of lung cancer cases by about 50 percent, according to the agency’s data.

“It’s really painful,” Madugula said. “That’s something that’s really pushed me. I want to make sure that other kids don’t have to see that.”