Artworks by Emma Mollapour at a Kids Against Cancer event at the Upstate Cancer Center.

Emma Mollapour’s introduction to painting came when she was 2.

“My parents, they put a canvas in front of me, and they covered my hands with paint,” she recalls. Mollapour, 11 (in photo at right), has been painting ever since, though now she uses brushes more than her hands. She also likes sketching and watercolors.

Several of Mollapour’s works were on display at the Upstate Cancer Center during the Kids Against Cancer event. One rectangle featured stars and stripes. A big green square held pine cones. An even larger blue square was the backdrop for red berries in the shape of a heart.

“The heart is my favorite shape,” she explains. “I really love love.”

Mollapour is glad to spread some happiness with her art. She’s a sixth grader who plans to become an actress. She appears as Maya on the local WCNY-TV/PBS series The Reading League’s “Reading Buddies Season 2,” a fun, foundational series for kids about learning to read. Her parents are Upstate cancer scientists Mehdi Mollapour, PhD, and Dimitra Bourboulia, PhD.

Kids Against Cancer is a charitable organization that was founded in 1983 to provide holiday spirit to children hospitalized for cancer treatment.

This article appears in the summer 2023 issue of Cancer Care magazine.