Bill Lohmann: Henrico High student left legacy of love

My first vivid recollection of Priyanka Kaushik was the evening I drove her and my daughter home from an elementary school sock-hop.

Even at that late hour, they were, to put it mildly, revved up. To say they were a bit boisterous in the backseat is a little like saying standing next to a jet engine could be a slightly loud experience.

I'm already operating an ear down in the hearing department, and I thought for sure the good one was a goner that night. But now that I think about it, it wasn't so much the volume that got my attention as the sheer, unadulterated gusto that filled the car. That was Priyanka.

She and my daughter had become fast friends that year when they'd met in what was a new school for both of them. But then, it was hard not to be Priyanka's friend.

She was a girl with a ready smile and a kind word; she made you want to be around her. She was excited about everything and funny and, yes, her voice carried. She could sing, she could draw and she made exemplary grades. She also was sweet; whenever she went to a friend's house for a sleepover, before turning in she always talked to her mom on the phone to tell her good night and to say she loved her.

Later, we learned she was brave and downright tough, a combination of grace and grit.

Priyanka battled leukemia for more than a year before drawing her last breath on Nov. 20. She never saw her 16th birthday.

But she left her mark. More specifically, she left her talent for art in the form of a gift: a collection of artwork that she, with the help of friends, created to lift the spirits of children hospitalized at VCU Children's Medical Center.

The artwork was her personal project for the International Baccalaureate program at Henrico High School. It was due to be completed by the end of 10th grade, and she was determined to finish it -- even though she was so sick she was barely able to attend class during ninth grade and not at all this past fall during the first months of her 10th-grade year.

"She seemed to see it as a lifeline, that she was a normal teenager despite what she had to go through," said Priscilla Biddle, IB coordinator at Henrico High. "It gave her that thing that normalized her turned-upside-down life."

Priyanka plugged along, drawing and painting, even when she was in the hospital and had almost no energy. Friends and family contributed frames and, in some cases, the artwork itself. The collection is being prepared to be hung in the rooms of pediatric patients.

It's appropriate that Priyanka's work will brighten the days of children in a hospital. She loved working with kids, and she wanted to be a physician, following in the footsteps of her brother, Anjan, who is in his residency in orthopedic surgery.

Linda Vulcanoff, the IB assistant at Henrico, recalled a day that Priyanka came into her office, worn down by chemotherapy and the long walks across Henrico's outdoor campus. She rested on a couch for a few minutes before her next class.

"She started talking about flowers she liked, how good it was to see the other kids, how it was just so good to be back," Vulcanoff said. "But she never talked about herself. You couldn't help but feel inspired by her."

Then the bell rang, and she headed to the next class.

On April 24, her friends and teachers will plant a pink dogwood in her memory in a garden at Henrico High -- a perfect tribute for someone nicknamed Pinky. They already have honored her -- and her affection for cows -- by contributing to a program that helps provide milk for children in developing countries.

Earlier that day, they will walk as "Priyanka's Herd" in the annual ASK Fun Walk and 5K at Short Pump Town Center. All proceeds support programs helping children with cancer.

The other evening, I stopped by to visit Priyanka's parents, Vani and Pavani, at their Glen Allen home. They showed me gifts Priyanka had made them over the years for birthdays and other special occasions. They showed me her room, which they've painted a lovely green, the color Priyanka had picked out before her death. They talked about how sadly different their lives are now.

But they also spoke of the imprint their daughter made on the world in such an unfairly short time.

"We are very proud," Vani said, "to be her mom and dad."

Contact Bill Lohmann at (804) 649-6639 or wlohmann@timesdispatch.com. Follow him at http://twitter.com/wlohmann