Editor’s Note: This story is part of our series “Helping Hands”, which aims to spotlight Johnson Countians doing good in the background of their community. If you have an idea for someone to spotlight in a future “Helping Hands” story, email us at stories@johnsoncountypost.com.
High school friends Krrish Sanjanwala and Pranith Surapaneni know that with autoimmune disease, there’s often more than meets the eye.
Sanjanwala and Surapaneni both experienced this while growing up with vitiligo, a condition that results in patches of skin losing color. Sanjanwala also has alopecia, another autoimmune disorder that causes hair loss — as does Surapaneni’s brother.
As seniors now at Blue Valley Northwest High School, the two understand that the autoimmune diseases they’ve experienced firsthand have impacts on both the inside and outside. But for younger kids, they know it can sometimes be hard to see past what the outside looks like.
This is what inspired them to start writing children’s books centered around autoimmune diseases and what it’s like to grow up looking “different” because of them.
With their ongoing book series, “Words for Wellness”, the duo said they hope to spread awareness for both young readers with autoimmune diseases as well as other kids who might encounter others with such conditions.
The duo has published 2 children’s books so far
The two friends so far have collaborated on two books, “Hidden Beauty: An Alopecia Story” and “Starry Skin: A Vitiligo Story.”
Sanjanwala and Surapaneni worked on the rough draft of each book in each other’s basements, during their free time outside of school.
“Hidden Beauty” follows a girl named Ellie who has alopecia and her journey to finding beauty from within.
“Starry Skin” is centered around Mike, a baseball player who has vitiligo and learns to embrace what makes him special.
“A lot of people don’t know what these conditions are, and even if they do, they might not have had much experience with them,” Surapaneni said. “So it makes it difficult for people who have these conditions to relate to others.”
Both books came out in 2024, and they both can be purchased on Amazon.
They’ve donated books and their proceeds
Following their publication, the pair said they’ve been encouraged by the positive response — particularly from parents of children struggling with similar conditions.
In addition to selling their books on Amazon, Sanjanwala and Surapaneni have donated some copies to clinics and hospitals throughout the Kansas City metro.
“We’ve received a couple of reviews from people that (direct message) us personally, telling us that their child has the disease and that reading the book helped them,” Sanjanwala said. “I thought that was really cool to hear back from people that what we were doing was causing some good.”
On top of donated copies themselves, Sanjanwala and Surapaneni found another way to use their books for good. They donated $2,500 from the book proceeds toward Lenexa-based Global Care Force’s “Fill the Pharmacies” program.
“We wanted to make a big impact outside of just our project that we were working on, and we found a good cause,” Sanjanwala said.
The program provides free medication and supplies for Global Care Force’s mobile medical clinics in Ukraine.
“We resonated with Global Care Force’s cause of taking care of people who were in need and underserved people,” Surapaneni said. “We kind of exceeded our original mission — increasing the confidence of people with these autoimmune disorders — and we were able to help other groups, as well.”
They’re coming out with a third book soon
The two friends have a third book in the works — this one centered around hyper hydrosis.
Hyper hydrosis is an autoimmune condition that causes excessive sweating. Once it’s published, the book will also be available for purchase on Amazon.
This month, Surapaneni also earned a “Kindness Action Scholarship” from local nonprofit SevenDays for the book series. It’s word-of-mouth publicity like this that the duo said can help get the word out to the community about their stories.
While the books are geared toward children, they hope the stories they are telling are just as enlightening for parents and caregivers.
“Awareness is the main part of it,” Surapaneni said. “Just raising awareness of what this entails and how people with these conditions feel and how they go on with their lives — it’s just important to know.”
More Helping Hands: How a JoCo family’s Merriam-based nonprofit helps students in need
