Daughter Felt Helpless After Dad's Cancer Diagnosis. One Thing That's Helped? Donating Over 25,000 Books to Sick Kids
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03/16/2025 04:30 AM
"I was drowning in sorrow and so much anxiety, so I started a book drive to turn that pain into purpose," Emily Bhatnagar tells PEOPLE
- Through her nonprofit For Love & Buttercup, Emily Bhatnagar has donated more than 25,000 books to children's hospitals around the country
- The Maryland native launched her effort after her father was diagnosed with cancer in 2019
- Bhatnagar tells PEOPLE that by giving back, she has been able to process and heal amid her father's cancer recovery
Emily Bhatnagar is finding comfort in giving back.
Devastated after her father was diagnosed with stage 4 thyroid cancer in 2019, the Maryland woman estimates that she has since donated more than 25,000 books to children's hospitals through her nonprofit For Love & Buttercup, hoping to make things brighter for people going through the worst days.
"A lot of people think, 'Oh, cancer, you get treatment, and then sometimes it gets better, sometimes it doesn't,' " Bhatnagar, 21, tells PEOPLE. "But there's actually so much more to cancer, and I feel like any family who has ever had a loved one with the disease knows that it impacts almost every single aspect of life."
As her father Mike began treatment, Emily realized that she needed a place to channel her helplessness.
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"He's my absolute best friend," she says. "We've always been super close, like two peas in a pod. So obviously I was heartbroken."
She adds, "I was drowning in sorrow and so much anxiety, so I started a book drive to turn that pain into purpose."
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Now three-years-plus into her mission, the first-year student at the University of Pennsylvania has come a long way.
Starting out, Emily used the neighborhood app Nextdoor to pass along word that she was looking for books. At the time, she and her older brother Michael would go door-to-door, collecting books and then sanitizing each one so that they could be enjoyed by those who are immunocompromised.
Later, she created an Amazon wishlist so that those who wished to donate, but didn't necessarily have those books on hand, could.
The books are shipped to her family's bakery in Gaithersburg, Md., where their arrival greets guests just like the aroma of the Indian fare her parents prepare.
"All our customers know at this point, it's not going to look like a typical food service facility when they walk in," Emily jokes. "It's filled with books."
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Yet, as the resourceful student's nonprofit found its voice and as authors and others began inundating her with their books, she was battling her own mental health issues.
"I was really struggling with anxiety at the time, panic attacks and just not feeling my best," she tells PEOPLE. "I had many of my own doctor appointments, because I was also struggling with an eating disorder. Just seeing my dad not being able to eat, and it made me feel guilty about eating."
But through giving back, Emily has since found solace — even as her father's cancer has returned.
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"I think the book drive healed me in ways nothing else did," Emily tells PEOPLE. "Whenever I met the kids at the hospital, it was stepping into another universe, another reality where they were the main characters and all that mattered in the world was their smiles. And in a similar way. I think that's also the beauty of books. You get to sort step inside other characters' shoes and feel their existence."
She adds, "And I think if there's anything I can take away from this, it's that everyone has the power to rewrite the reality in the magic of that. It's basically perspective. If you reframe your thinking, it makes a world of a difference."
