Emily Bhatnagar has always found solace in reading. When she's struggling with anxiety and depression, she turns to books. So when she accidentally saw a text message on her father's phone notifying relatives he had stage 4 thyroid cancer, she masked her fears with the one thing she's always found comfort in.
Emily Bhatnagar has always found solace in reading. When she's struggling with anxiety and depression, she turns to books.
Nearly two years later, her father's thyroid has improved, For Love and Buttercup is a nonprofit and her grassroots efforts have spurred donations of more than 15,000 children's books to DC-area hospitals. The teen says she had long battled depression, anxiety and an eating disorder, but that went up"1,000%" after she learned of her dad's illness.
So Emily, who says she largely kept to herself in school and read books during recess, started thinking about how to help. Mike Bhatnagar has lost most of his vocal cords and speaks in a raspy whisper. He uses a tube to feed through his stomach."I feel a little bit more strong each day. Emily has a lot to do with that," he said."I didn't expect the impact of her book drive to be this huge. I thought it was only local and didn't realize just how much passion Emily had for this cause."
"Of course I want to include childhood classics like Harry Potter, but I also want to ensure my books are diverse and have characters that the children reading these books can see themselves in," she says. The Bhatnagar family delivered another 1,500 books in November to Holy Cross Health hospitals and clinics. Alisa Smallwood, chief development officer at Holy Cross Health, said the books are a welcome distraction for hospitalized kids.
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