From Hospital Corridors to Hope: How 17-Year-Old Hridaan Jhunjhunwala Rebuilt Childhood for Families in Distress

Back in 2013, four-and-a-half-year-old Hridaan Jhunjhunwala spent long afternoons sitting in hospital waiting rooms in Kolkata while his maternal grandfather underwent cancer treatment. Accompanying his mother through endless consultations, Hridaan quickly noticed he was far from the only child in those sterile hallways. The paediatric OPD was filled with young faces—some fighting illnesses themselves behind fabric curtains, while others had travelled hundreds of kilometres from rural villages to accompany an ailing parent. Uprooted from their routines and schools, these children spent entire days sitting in fear and isolation.

Hridaan felt a natural pull toward them. He went on to give shape to his vision of bringing smiles, laughter and magic to those fighting cancer. His visits soon began with a small pocketful of Eclairs and 5-Star chocolates, which gradually turned into boxes of Dairy Milk, fruit juices, and board games like Ludo and Snakes & Ladders to pass the hours. One afternoon at the hospital pharmacy, witnessing families struggle to pay for daily medicines out-of-pocket prompted Hridaan and his mother to start micro-drives to cover pharmacy bills. When he noticed a toddler in the ward lacking nutritional supplements, he immediately connected with the need—having PediaSure at home himself—and organized a targeted supply drive.
 

As he grew, these gestures expanded organically into community-wide initiatives. Hridaan began dressing up on Halloween to go trick-or-treating across his residential complex—not for candies, but to collect toys and donations for paediatric patients. He established a matching toy drive where donated pre-loved toys were redirected to street children, while brand-new, sanitized toys were reserved for immunocompromised hospital wards. To share festive traditions safely, he organized chartered buses during Durga Puja, coordinating early-morning pandal visits before public crowds arrived. For the Kolkata Christmas Carnival, he arranged an exclusive two-hour access window from 2:00 to 4:00 PM, ensuring vulnerable children could enjoy the festivities safely.

What started as small acts of comfort grew into monthly rituals. Hridaan began organizing joint birthday celebrations complete with cakes, decorations, and puppet shows. On Christmas mornings, he went to the wards early to open Secret Santa gifts with the kids. Before every new school semester, he ran drives for fresh backpacks, stationery, and water bottles so these children could experience the excitement of a new academic year.

When voluntary contributions grew too large to manage informally, Hridaan, with a close family friend, officially registered LiveStrong Foundation India. Today, the foundation has supported over 500 families navigating critical illness. It covers essential medical treatments and chemotherapy cycles while providing food bundles, school supplies, and morale-boosting events—including “MasterChef” cooking days and Mother’s Day movie screenings for caregiving mothers.

Now in Class 12, preparing to apply to top international universities for physics and mechanical engineering, Hridaan views his academic goals as part of a lifelong commitment. For him, studying abroad is a stepping stone to acquiring technical expertise that he intends to bring straight back to India—building scalable solutions for society while ensuring no child in a hospital hallway ever feels forgotten.